


Of Elections and Valentine's Day

by baelinwhitethorn



Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: AU/AH, Drama, F/M, Highschool AU, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-17 11:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5868046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baelinwhitethorn/pseuds/baelinwhitethorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tessa Gray and Clary Fray have been best friends since ninth grade when they realized their shared hatred for Herondales. With the Valentine's Day dance fast approaching, they start to wonder if they should reconsider this. COMPLETE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Student Council Debacle

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.

        Clary Fray was drawing posters for the Valentine’s Day dance when her phone rang.  
        “Fray for president,” she answered, putting her phone on speaker and balancing her paint brush in her other hand, twirling it absentmindedly.  
        “Clary!” Tessa yelled, and Clary cringed.  
        “You need to be quiet, Jon is asleep in the other room,” Clary shushed her friend.  
        “That’s what he deserves for being best friends with them.”  
Clary should have figured out by the tone of voice how serious the matter was. Herondales.  
        Specifically of the Jace and Will variety.  
        For as long as Clary could remember, her neighbor Jace had been best friends with her brother, Jonathon. And her worst enemy. Whether it was his constant teasing of her chest size (B cups were not that bad!) or the fact that he was always at her house, all she knew was that she hated Jace more than anybody had ever hated anybody. He was like Donald Trump, except he lived right next to her.  
        This had been something of a blessing though because if she didn’t hate Jace as much as she did, she never would have made friends with Tessa Gray, a girl that hated Herondales as much as her. Instead of hating them on principle, Tessa was holding a grudge. For all of middle school, Tessa had been dating Jace’s older brother, Will’s best friend, Jem. Until he convinced him to join the Silent Brother High School on a violin scholarship, and Tessa and he were forced to break up. Tessa had shown up in the Herondale yard, screaming at Will from afar.  
        Naturally, Clary saw potential in her, and they became friends soon after.  
        So by Tessa calling her, it meant something had happened with them.  
        “What happened?” Clary whispered in a hush tone.

  
*****

 

         Tessa Gray sped to Clary’s house, passenger seat covered in the Herondales for Student Council posters.  
         This was the final straw. Will knew how much this meant to her.  
         At the Shadowhunter Academy of Fine Arts, the Student council elections were always held the year beforehand with a president and vice-president dream team that people could vote for her. Before today, Clary and she were running together with only Isabelle Lightwood and Magnus Bane as her competitors. While they were popular, nobody would vote for them as they were openly endorsing Clary and Tessa. Magnus and Isabelle just wanted to run against them so they could show off their new outfits during the debates to promote fashion club. They even told all of the student body that they would drop out if they tried to vote for them, so it was pretty much guaranteed that Clary and Tessa would be the president and vice president.  
Until now.  
        Will and Jace had announced that they were going to run together earlier today. All of the junior class revered them, and the election this year was by popular vote of the student body.  
        The imbeciles were certainly going to vote for them, especially when Jace’s platform was that he would hold a raffle of people interested on going to the Valentine’s Day dance in exchange for votes.  
        “Ladies, gentlemen, there’s still dating,” Will had announced, an easy-going grin, “There’s plenty of us to go around even if you don’t win for the dance.”  
        Tessa wanted to punch the grin off his face. First he took Jem from her, then he took this from her.  
        What had she ever done to him?

  
*****

 

        Clary and Tessa stared at the posters of Jace’s abs dejectedly. You didn’t need a super-pack in high school campaigns, but you did need a six-pack.  
        “I can’t believe him!” Clary growled.  
        “I mean, they’re within their boundaries. There are no rules on campaigning as long as they don’t spend over a hundred bucks on it, based on our constitution,” Tessa groaned. Clary and Tessa were the current historian and secretary, so they knew every single rule about student council. They had since they joined in ninth grade together, and it had been part of their friendship just as much as hating Herondales.  
         Which made it all the worse.  
         Clary was livid. She knew Jace would pull something like this. It would be just like him to do it, not for anything other than to tease her. Clary was a cheerleader, so she had the cheer vote, but Jace was the star basketball player so that was iffy now. Tessa and Will would divide the entire publication department, and the nerds were going to be in war soon enough. Jace probably had the music department, but Clary had the visual arts kids and their weird friends. The dancers would probably go with who was hotter, especially the male dancers. It wasn’t certain that they would lose, but it definitely did not look promising.  
        They were going to lose everything they had worked for because Jace wanted to make her upset.  
        This was not going to fly with her.

  
*****

 

         “JACE HERONDALE!” Clary screamed, jumping up and down outside of the two-story house. “JACE HERONDALE, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE.”  
         Jace appeared a few seconds later, a concerned look on his face. Well, she would think it were concerned if not for the fact that she knew how depraved his soul was, and that he was incapable of feeling the most basic human emotions.  
        “Hey, Shorty!” he called, a grin on his face. Her glare grew in response to his words, and she nearly screamed right there. But Clary didn’t believe in screaming (if you ignored the past five minutes and any other time she had screamed at Jace). “Do you have any questions about the campaign?”  
        “I do, in fact. First of all, how dare you?” she yelled (ignore this too).  
“Clary, we both know that you took that from The Office,” Jace said. “We watched that episode together.”  
        “I, Clary Fray,” she called to the heavens, “Would never watch The Office with Jace Herondale!”  
        “So what really brings you here?” Jace asked, ignoring her previous comment.  
        “Why did you do this? You know how much this means to me, Jace. Please just announce that you’re not really running, and let this be over with.”  
Jace raised a brow at her before saying, “Clary, I am really running. I think I would be great for the organization, and I will be able to help keep the student council on budget. During my time as treasurer, I have been able to keep our funds at an all-time high.”  
         “You’re not serious,” she said.  
         “I am though,” Jace was talking slowly like he was worried that she didn’t understand him. “If you’re president, your frivolous need for dances would bankrupt us for sure.”  
         “My dances are not frivolous,” Clary said quietly, a hint of a threat marking her words. “My dances bring the student body together and make people feel pride for their school. Everybody wants to go to my dances. My dances deserve to win. They have worked all their lives for this, only to be murdered by the Herondale twins because one of them was a meanie.”  
         “Meanie?” Jace asked, a smirk crossing his features.  
         “You heard me!” she said, wagging her finger.  
         He sighed, “Okay, fine. Will and I will drop the race, but only if you can bring in at least 75% of the student body to this dance. Prove to me that you’re the better candidate if you seem to think that I am so awful.”  
        “Deal,” Clary said, not really sure what she was agreeing to.  
        “What’s in it for me?” Jace asked, not letting her have even this win.  
        “The satisfaction of me losing,” Clary said, glaring.  
        “Oh, that’s not necessarily true. I want to hear that you’re going to drop out if they do not reach that limit-“  
        “What-“  
        “I am not going to sacrifice my campaign for nothing,” Jace said. “I’m doing this for Jonathon. You should be glad. We both know you’d lose if I didn’t offer you this.”  
Clary was fuming, but she knew deep down that this was her only chance. She held out her hand for him to shake.  
        “Alright, deal.”  
        “Deal.”


	2. The Master Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare. 
> 
> Thanks to the guest for leaving a kudos on this work! I'll be posting one chapter today until Valentine's Day.

      Mr. Mortmain stood in front of the creative writing class, discussing character development as Tessa received a DM on her Instagram account. She jumped a bit as her phone squealed, something she never bothered to turn off because her friends knew she was responsible and would not answer texts.  
      _Hello, competitor ~Will_Hates_Ducks_  
_Stop it. ~Tessa_Gray_  
_Oh, I’ll only stop if little Clary wins her bet with my brother. I rather enjoy talking to you. ~Will_Hates_Ducks_  
      Tessa rolled her eyes, knowing this was a distraction technique. But it was intriguing, she had to admit. Besides, it’s not like she could block him without him doing something ridiculous like saying he would do rate/date/hates on Instagram in exchange for votes in repercussion. So she humored him. That was the only reason though. She didn’t enjoy talking to William Herondale under any circumstances.  
       _What are you talking about? ~Tessa_Gray_  
       She turned around to see Will smirking at his cellphone. He clearly was excited to have the upper hand in this scenario, and for a second she was worried. It only got worse as she saw what he wrote.  
       _Clary and Jace have made an agreement that we would drop out of our election if she doesn’t get 75% of the student body to come to this dance, but if she doesn’t, then it is goodbye for your election. Too bad, right? You would look splendid in a pantsuit debating me. ~Will_Hates_Ducks_

*****  
        “YOU DID WHAT?” Clary’s best friend screamed into her ear, and she cringed. She really ought to talk about Tessa’s phone habits to her as she did not intend to go deaf by the time she was twenty.  
         “Listen, Tessa, he wasn’t going to relent any other way. I had to do this or I would have not done it. I don’t want to lose this election any more than you do, and I saw this as an opportunity for us to win. You know that this is a popularity contest, Tessa. We just aren’t popular enough.”  
         “It is not a popularity contest. I am appalled that you would think that our student body is so fascinated by such trivial things that they would vote for someone solely on their abs,” Tessa’s voice held a slight huff, and Clary wanted to remind her that that is exactly what they would do. It was common knowledge that student council was just a way for all of the kids to realize that they had nothing to be confident about and that their ideas didn’t matter if they wanted to make a change. Which was why she wanted to change it in the first place, she truly believes that she can make student council be about what she dreamt of it- camaraderie, brotherhood, other nice things that she could have that Jace would definitely not have because he was a meanie.  
           “Tessa,” Clary sighed instead. “If we start fighting, then the Herondales will win. We have to work together to make this the best dance the Shadowhunters have ever seen. There is only a month until the Valentine’s Day Dance, and, in that time, we have to have ¾ of our school decide they want to go.”  
           “I have just the idea,” Tessa said.

*****  
           “You can’t be serious,” Clary said as she saw the forty slide PowerPoint Tessa had diligently prepared in the past hour discussing their plans for domination. They were on slide 1, and it was already looking like it would not work.  
          “Thirty of the slides are cat memes,” Tessa explained. “I figured that would be the only way I could keep you paying attention the whole time.”  
          “I’m not talking about the PowerPoint!” Clary snapped. “How do you think       “Phase 1” is even going to work? We all know that the basketball players worship Jace, and they won’t go if he tells them.”  
         “But he won’t. Because our plan is to make an alliance by the end of this, to make it not us against them. He’s not going to interfere with that.”  
      “What is that even supposed to mean? Are you trying to tell me we have to be friends with Jace because that sounds like Hell and I would lose the election if it meant not being friends with him.”  
      Tessa rolled her eyes. “You most certainly will not because my election is on the line too. As your vice president, I am going to make you do this whether or not you like it. We will do whatever it takes to win, even if it involves fraternizing with the enemies. Besides, once we win, we can go back to normal.”  
      Clary knew her friend had a point, and she had kind of blindsided Tessa to begin with. It was only fair that she conceded to how she wanted this plan to go, so she let Tessa go through the rest of her PowerPoint and took diligent notes.  
     It was a simple 10 phase plan.  
     Phase 1 was going to the Homecoming basketball game, something they had already planned on, and announcing that true Shadowhunters fought demons by buying dance tickets. That would get approximately 15% of the students to buy their tickets the night of the game out of pride for the school. The game was happening in a few days, but as they were high up in student council it would probably slide.  
     Phase 2 was making connections. What this meant was getting the 10% of the school that cared too much about what other people thought and blackmailing them into going. Tessa was a journalist for the school paper, so she happened to have gossip on all of them. It was not going to be that hard to do.  
     Phase 3 was simple clerical work and campaigning, something Tessa assured her was necessary in order to run a successful campaign.  
     Phase 4 was giving an announcement to the students of the school in the morning, something that would get about 5% of the students to join in because they wanted it to look like they were actually trying to participate in school events for college.  
     Phase 5 was a rally at lunch time, which would get people annoyed enough until they bought a ticket. That would account for another 5%.  
     Phase 6 was the last phase involved in getting the student body, accounting for 40% of the school population. This was of course making them think they had received a great deal on the dance tickets by getting them half off if they bought a candy gram. The dance tickets would still cost them five dollars each, and the candy grams were 3 dollars, so they really only saved 2, but when people think that they’re being thrifty, they like to buy whatever. It’s rather ingenious on Tessa’s part because that was something they could have gotten the 75% of students from alone because if there’s one thing a shadowhunter likes, it’s a good bargain.  
     Phase 7 was sticking to the status quo, meaning that they would stay like they had been before to secure the votes they knew they were already going to receive.  
      Phase 8 was something that made Clary cringe, and it involved seducing Jace. She figured by that point she could convince Tessa to not do it, so she didn’t argue too much.  
      Phase 9 was making an alliance with them, which also made Clary cringe. But again, she wasn’t going to argue. Also, if the bargaining phase didn’t work as well as they thought, then they could maybe get their newly acquired friends to make another agreement.  
      Phase 10 was the final phase, which was really just securing out the rest of the dance and making sure it all went smoothly so that everybody would for sure show up.  
      The plan was going to work if Clary had anything to do with it.

*****  
        Jace was in Clary’s kitchen when she went downstairs, and she glared at him.  
        “I heard that you and Tessa had an argument,” Jace said, stirring some creamer into a cup of coffee had poured. That was her coffee, thank you very much.  
       “We didn’t have a fight,” Clary snapped, trying to take the coffee from his hands. He snatched it away and put it up high, knowing she wouldn’t be able to reach how high up his hand went.  
       “Alright, fine. Just like you didn’t have a crush on Simon in sixth grade.”  
       “I did not have a crush on him, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. With you threatening him like that, there would be no chance for us to even get together! And I haven’t been able to go to a dance with anybody ever because you always threaten away anybody that might like me and you ruin everything, Jace. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I want to actually dance at the dances that I work so hard for? I attend everything and see you get to dance with whoever, but I can’t be with anybody because of you!”  
       Jace actually looked a little shocked at her outburst, “If I weren’t to protect you, then they would take advantage of you. I happen to really care about Jonathon, and I don’t want that to happen. But I can stop that if it bothers you so much.”  
       “Then do it!” she said, not really sure why it bothered her so much all of a sudden. Maybe it was just because she was angry at him in general, and anything she could use against him was fair game for her. The look he was giving her was almost…kind. She filed that away for another time.  
        “You know, if you wanted to, you could dance with me,” he said it almost shyly.  
        She felt her cheeks flame and her heart pounded. What was she doing? This was Jace. She hated Jace.  
      “Of course, you’d have to vote for me, and it would be part of the raffle, so it wouldn’t be certain,” he included a few beats after her thoughts.  
       There he was. The jerk that she hated. She had just been confused because he had been nice to her for a few seconds.  
       That was all. 


	3. The Great Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare. I would love to have a beta, by the way, if any of you guys are interested in editing my TOG or TMI fics. I'm currently working on compiling more of my works into one area, so that will be a process of moving all of my writing from my tumblr onto here. I really enjoy AO3 though, and I intend to use it in the future more often.

     Clary typed her AP Euro notes furiously, trying to distract herself to the feelings of 18th century society in England instead of thinking about Jace.    

     Jace.

     Why had he done that? Made it seem like he was actually not that much of an asshole only to do that. It wasn’t that she had that high of thoughts of him from the beginning, but how could he make her have even lower feelings.

     Maybe he was worse than Donald Trump.

     Okay, that’s just wrong. Nobody’s worse than Donald Trump, but he definitely reached maybe Ted Cruz or Ben Carson status. She shivered at the state of the Republican Party, realizing that any of them being elected is probably much worse than Jace being a jerk to her. At least Jace didn’t have the ability to ruin all of the nation with his horrifying ideas on foreign policy.

     Perhaps she should ask him his ideas on foreign policies in the United States and decide her final opinions on him that way. That was probably the most reasonable course of action. If she saw him in the next few days, she knows for a fact that she’ll talk to him about it.

     She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and typed about the luddites some more. Her AP Euro grade was currently an 84, and she did not intend on putting that on a transcript. Thinking about her grades made her work harder, and she eventually finished her notes and checked her text messages.

     Phase 1 of the plan was set to happen today, and Tessa was going to make the announcement at the homecoming game while the marching band was setting up for their part in the halftime show. As Clary was a cheerleader, she would have to be at the game in about twenty minutes, so she quickly put on her uniform and drove to her school.

     When she got there, she saw a banner that said “SHADOWHUNTERS, HUNT THE DEMONS” and rolled her eyes. That one had actually won the banner competition. At least she and Tessa won for character day, though.

     Tessa was working on an essay for AP Lang and covered in black and gold paint when she reached the concession stands and bought a water bottle. By manning the concession stands, she was able to do homework while receiving community service hours for National Honor Society, so she did it every year.

     “So, phase 1,” Clary said. “We have sold fourteen tickets. Our school has a thousand and five students, and Jace already agreed that we only have to do percentages for a thousand. Considering that, we only have to get 133 students for phase 1 to be successful. It’s estimated that five hundred kids will be at the game, so I think that we can for sure get them sold for only 10 bucks each.”

      Clary nodded. This phase was going to be easily successful. Kids always bought things at Homecoming pretty easily. She knew for a fact that all of the prospective Homecoming Court was bragging about how they were going to buy dance tickets that went on sale tonight because they had the best school spirit. That would for sure give them 20 more tickets, and assuming that they had four of their followers buy one too, it would make that 20 a 100.

     Clary grinned. They were going to win this bet. Jace wasn’t going to win the election, and she was going to get to be president of student council.

     It was as she was thinking that that she bumped into Jace, and she squealed a bit.

     He steadied her a bit, giving her an easy smile.

     “Easy does it,” he told her. “Hey, have you seen Jonathon anywhere? He and I were going to go over a few strategies before the game.”

     “I haven’t,” she said stiffly, trying to avoid looking into his eyes. He must have noticed because of how much her hair was moving in conjunction with her head to move out of the view of his eyes. It didn't work.

     He didn’t leave her, instead saying, “So about the other day…”

     “What about the other day?”

     He gave her a look before saying, “When I was being a jerk to you.”

     “That doesn’t ring a bell. You tend to do that a lot actually. Maybe you should specify the exact time.”

     “When I suggested that I had feelings for you,” he said a little louder. “And then made a snarky comment. That was wrong.”

     “Oh, that,” she said.

     “Yes,” he nodded.

     “I just want you to know very seriously that I have no feelings for you whatsoever. You’re honestly the least likely person for me to ever date besides maybe like a serial killer or Donald Trump-“

     “What are your feelings about the American foreign policy?” Clary interrupted him, remembering that she had decided she needed to ask him about it the next time she saw him.

     “I think the best thing for us is to have a strictly isolationist policy, avoiding all world matters completely. We have done too much to be involved in wars, and it’s only leading to unnecessary hatred for us.”

     “You can’t do that!” Clary shrieked. “That is an awful decision. Sure, we shouldn’t be doing anything by means of war, but we should be practicing diplomacy. They were purely isolationist after WWI, and think about what happened then. Hitler. Do you want Hitler? Is that what you want Jace? Because Donald Trump will do that for you. He will be Hitler if that’s what you want. Of course, we don’t need Hitler, you uncooked hot pocket!”

     “I don’t think Mrs. Garroway would be happy if she found out that you were calling people uncooked hot pockets, Clary,” Jace tried to reason with her.

      “Well, if the shoe fits!” she said.

      He gave her a confused glance before nodding and walking away. She stuck her tongue at his back, figuring that was the most mature course of action.

*****

      “Ah. Teresa. Tessa. Tesseroni and cheese pizza.”

     “Will,” Tessa said by way of greeting, filing away a few dollars in her tray.

      “I hear that you are planning something of a sabotage against me,” Will said, pulling out some money from his wallet.

      “I’m trying to get people to buy tickets tonight so that I can be on schedule for the student body to come to the Valentine’s Day Dance. There is no sabotage involved.”

      “Ah, I see. So you plan on sabotaging me and don’t want to admit it. That’s fine. I’ll remember that though. I don’t think you’ll mind.”

      “What do you want?” Tessa asked, pulling her hair from her face because she wasn’t quite aware of what to do with her hands.

     “I want to discuss this sabotage.”

     “Sorry, that’s not on the menu.”

     “Alright, could I get a dance ticket then?” he asked her, and she looked into his eyes.

     “What are you trying to do?” Tessa asked, not sure how she felt about this.

      “I happen to think you would be a fabulous vice president, Tessa. I am not rooting against you, and if I don’t win, I’d like you to. You happen to be pretty level-headed for the most part. Of course, if I remember correctly, you were pretty hotheaded when you and Jem broke up.”

      “That’s not what I cared about!” Tessa snapped. “It’s the fact that Jem was one of my best friends, and he would have gone here with us. Now we don’t even talk anymore. Why would you have told him to go to the Silent Brothers when you knew this would happen?”

     “Maybe that’s because it was what he wanted,” Will said drily. “I happen to have been his friend too, and I can assure you that I wanted what he wanted. He wanted to go to that school, and that was all that mattered. He deserved to go where he would be happy.”

     He sighed, and she gave him a dance ticket like he asked. He left and she spent the rest of the night robotically selling everything.

      At the halftime show, she explained over a shaky microphone about why students should buy Valentine’s Day dance tickets to support their school. They met their goal easily, but Tessa couldn’t quite bring herself to be cheerful.

       It wasn’t until she reached her house, washed off her paint, and got ready for bed that she considered why she wasn’t cheerful. It was Will. Not Will being generally awful because she was used to that. No, it was because of what he said. Maybe she had reacted badly. While she was very unhappy to see him go, it had been Jem’s dream to go to that school, and she couldn’t have really stopped him whether or not Will advised him to go or not. He deserved to go to the school because Jem Carstairs deserved to be happy.

      Which meant the reason she had hated Will for the past two and a half years was for no reason. Which meant that perhaps Will was a better friend to Jem than she was.

       Perhaps Will didn’t deserve her hatred.


	4. Making Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phase 2 of Tessa and Clary's master plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

       Phase two. Making connections.  
       As the Valentine’s Day dance was on February 13, and it was already January 20th, Tessa had to move quickly. Since she was the head of the school newspaper, it made sense that she would be in charge of the phase. The school newspaper, since the beginning of the Shadowhunter Academy, was really a gossiping source about students, since nobody was going to read it otherwise.  
       And gossip was Tessa’s talent. She had always been good about changing her personalities enough to receive information, and though she didn’t like having her paper be so ridiculous, it did come in handy on occasion.  
      Luckily, today was one of those occasions.  
      “So, Gabriel,” Tessa said to the sophomore sitting beside her in journalism that day.  
      “Hmm?” he asked, not looking up from where he was editing a picture of a cheerleader to look heavier underneath the caption- cheerleader gains five pounds after breakup with hot basketball player boyfriend.  
      “How do you feel about your girlfriend’s brothers running for student council president and vice president?” Tessa asked, knowing this would make him look up.  
      “How do you know about Cecily?” he asked carefully. While Will and Jace were nine months apart and just enough to be in the same grade, Cecily was a freshman that they were very protective of. Everybody knew they would threaten any guy stupid enough to mess with her.  
      “I have my sources,” Tessa said, not wanting to say that she happened to find ways to hack into all journalists in her school’s e-mails after class. In her defense, it was trying to give her gossip a factual basis.  
      “You can’t tell them,” Gabriel said. “We’ll do anything.”  
      “Twenty bucks,” Tessa said. “Two dance tickets and we’ll call it even.”  
      Gabriel didn’t hesitate at all as he handed her some money.  
      The next person she went to was Magnus Bane, who was typing up an essay for a grant for fashion club.  
      “I know about Alec Lightwood,” Tessa said.  
      Magnus turned around with a shocked stare. They had managed to keep it hidden for a long time. Alec was always trying to participate in events that made him more “manly” and Magnus never looked at him. Tessa really would never tell anybody about Alec because she didn’t think it was fair for him to be bullied for something he couldn’t help.  
      But she needed to sell dance tickets, so she would definitely pretend she   could.  
      “I’ll buy your dance tickets,” Magnus said with an eye-roll. “But don’t threaten to expose Alexander. I know that you would never do that. You’re too kind to be a journalist, Tessa.”  
      Tessa sighed, “Thank you, Magnus.”  
      “You’re welcome, Tessa. And, trust me, I want to see you take down the Herondales just as much as you do.”  
      “Why?” Tessa asked him, confused.  
      “Well, something has to make them less cocky,” Magnus defended with a hair flip. “Besides, you helped me start up my fashion club, this is the least I can do to help.”  
      “Thank you, Magnus,” Tessa said.  
      “You’re welcome,” he smiled.  
       By the end of the week, Tessa had sold 85 more tickets through her powers of blackmail. It was becoming more and more of a possibility that she would be vice president with each passing day.

***

  
     Clary Fray happened to be good at making connections herself.  
     Not in a way that she had ever expected.  
     As she required 15 tickets to reach Tessa’s goal for phase 3, she was going to have to talk to people herself. While she didn’t have the power of blackmail, she did have the power of charm.  
      Or as much charm as a five foot nothing, angry, ginger could have.  
      Okay, it was only fifteen people she had to convince. She would be fine.  
Or maybe not.  
      As she stood in the lunch hall on Friday, she tried to be as warm as possible to fellow students as she could. It just didn’t happen to be working very well.  
      “Clary Fray?” a voice said from behind her, and she turned around to see Sebastian Verlac, a senior.  
     “Oh, hi, Sebastian,” she said, a little uncomfortable. He was very attractive, and that usually meant he was going to ask her to do his homework or something.  
      “So, uh, what are you doing standing up?” he asked, putting his hands in his pockets.  
      “I have to sell ten more tickets by the end of lunch,” Clary explained, flipping her hair a bit.  
     “I’ll buy one,” he offered with a grin.  
     “Sure,” she said, handing him a ticket as he handed her a ten dollar bill.   Their hands brushed and she felt a blush form across her cheeks as he held her hand longer than necessary.  
      “I could help,” he said, then looked away shyly.  
      “Sure,” she said.  
      He called out to five girls walking out of the lunch line, and they blushed before looking over at him.  
      “Hey, would you two mind buying some tickets for the Valentine’s Day dance?” Sebastian asked.  
      One of them widened her eyes, “We need to get tickets for that immediately. Will and Jace won’t want to go with us if we don’t already have our tickets purchased before the raffle.”  
      “Just four more,” Sebastian grinned down at her, but Clary was scared with what the girl said. Jace and Will wouldn’t be telling people to buy tickets, would they?  
      “What’s wrong?” Sebastian asked.  
      “It’s just, I don’t understand why they would tell girls that they won’t dance with them unless they get tickets. It’s like they want me to win,” Clary’s brow furrowed, trying to figure out Jace’s intent.  
      “Jace is just doing that to freak you out, I bet,” Sebastian said. “He’s such a jerk to you. How are you friends with him?”  
      “I’m not!” Clary said loudly, not knowing why it bothered her so much that Sebastian would think that other than that she didn’t want to be associated with Jace Herondale. “He just happens to be best friends with Jonathon and my next door neighbor. I hate him very strongly.”  
      “Well, I dislike you being around him,” Sebastian said.  
      “Yeah?” Clary asked, shocked that Sebastian was able to flag down another four girls into buying tickets in a few minute time span.  
      “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe you should be around me, instead.”  
      Clary blushed, not seeing Jace as he walked past her with a pissed off expression.

***

  
      “This is unfair,” Will said, pulling out his laptop for typing as creative writing started. It was a work day for their 50 page semester assignment.  
      “What do you mean?” Tessa asked, already typing up her tenth page.  
      “I think that you know what I mean,” Will said, an angered glare settling across his features.  
      “No, I don’t,” Tessa said. “This is something we’ve known about for quite a while, and ten pages a month really isn’t that bad.”  
      “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Will said, looking at her with an annoyed expression.  
      “What is it then?” Tessa asked, pausing her assignment momentarily.  
      “You can’t blackmail people for tickets,” Will said. “That’s not fair and you know it. If you win, it should be because you earned it. Not because you told people they were going to get exposed to your little gossip page”  
      “It’s called journalism,” Tessa snapped. “Something that journalists do occasionally. I’m just using all of my resources for this campaign, and I will use all of them when I am vice president.”  
      “Yes, you’ll be a wonderful vice president. That’s why I’m telling you that this blackmail has to stop. You will be a wonderful president whether or not you use your resources. All this is doing is upsetting you, which in turn upsets me. Please just agree to stop this, and we’ll be on our way.”  
      Tessa hadn’t expected Will to openly compliment her like this, but she figured that she couldn’t really judge him. She had been doing that for two and a half years, and it had done nothing for her.  
      “Okay,” she said instead.  
      “You’re really going to stop?” Will asked.  
      “Well, phase two is really already done anyway,” Tessa said. “And I think you’re right. I should be as reasonable running as I am when I’m the vice president.”  
      Will smiled at her, and she felt something. A tugging of friendship almost.  
      Maybe Will really had changed. 


	5. Campaigns Are Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wessa centered chapter.

      Tessa sat in the library, working on phase 3 of the plan. The purpose of this phase was to work on basic clerical work that was necessary for any election. As Clary was better at making posters, she put her on that while she worked on printing out flyers to pass out and hang up around the school. In an hour or two, Clary was to report to her with her posters.  
      She pulled out a laptop and started playing around with fonts. She wanted to let herself look more fun, considering everybody said that she had a stick up her ass. She figured that the Comic Sans font really let out her gregarious spirit, so she selected it and began typing up the flyers.  
      After a little bit of editing, she decided on her caption that really showed how cool and chill she was. As her fellow classmates might say, it looked very “lit.”  
      _Can haz a good candidate? Vote 4 Fray and Gray_  
      She included one of the cat memes that Clary seemed to enjoy so much, and she figured that that would definitely score some cool points. People liked memes.  
      After sending that flyer to the printer, she started working through another flyer with the goal of more memes. She was feeling high off of what the memes were bringing her. By the next thirty minutes she had printed out a variety of flyers, all with some of the classic memes.  
      _I don’t always vote for candidates, but when I do they’re Tessa and Clary._  
_One does not simply vote for Herondales._  
_Much candidate. Many talent. Very wow._  
_Brace yourselves, Fray and Gray are coming._  
_Pepe the Frog votes for Fray/Gray, and so should you_.  
      Satisfied with her work, she sent two of each to the printer in the library, and pulled out her homework to work on while they were printing.  
      She was elated! Tessa Gray was going to be the fun candidate! She had always been told she was sort of boring and that she should loosen up a bit, and this was her chance. Memes really were the way of the future.  
      “Comic sans? Really, Gray?” Will’s voice snapped Tessa out of her meme high, and it was back to business.  
      “Yes. My number one complaint as vice president is that I’m boring and don’t understand what it means to be a student. Memes are a way for me to communicate that I am cool and free-spirit. One might even argue that my campaign is ‘turnt up.’ So take that, Herondale! I can be one of the cool teens.”  
      “Tessa, I’m saying this because I think it’s only fair. Nobody uses the comic sans font when they want to look like they are trying to communicate to teenagers. It makes you look like a grandpa. The only one of these that is acceptable is your doge meme, and that is because it actually uses the comic sans font… Honestly, Tess, you should give a serious poster. So they think you’re a tight ass. Who cares? You can still be good for the school as a tight ass, and people that don’t vote for you because of that are not going to vote for you regardless of how unprofessional you act.”  
      “First off, my name is Tessa. Not Tess. Second off, I think I know my way around a meme. I happen to be a seventeen year old living in America. Memes are the way to the future, Will.”  
      “Tessa, you sound like Hilary Clinton. Hilary Clinton just wants people votes. But you’re not Hilary Clinton. You’re Bernie Sanders. You want to make change in the world, change how these elections are run. You can’t do that with memes. Give them a serious flyer. They’ll respect you for it, just as I respect you for how seriously you treat this. Please don’t ruin your campaign this way.”  
      There was no joking in his voice. He was being completely serious, just as he had been when he was talking about Jem. Her thoughts went back to that night when she had thought about Jem. She knew for a fact that he cared about Jem, and he thought it was necessary as his friend to advise him to do. Could it be possible that he was doing the same for her? That he really wanted her to be happy just as he had wanted Jem to be happy? Could Will be selfless and not everything she hated him for? The thought was scary. It meant that she had hated him for something that really meant nothing other than that he was a good friend.  
      “Why are you trying to help me?” Tessa asked finally.  
      “Because I respect you, Tessa,” Will said, no hints of humor on his face.    “You work very hard for the respect of you student body, and you’re one of the few people in this school’s history that knows this isn’t a popularity contest. I respect that. Besides, you were always a good friend to Jem, and, even if he and I aren’t talking anymore, I think I owe it to him to take care of you.”  
      “I’m sorry,” Tessa said.  
      “What for?” Will asked.  
      “For hating you for two and a half years. I truly had no reason to, and I realized that the other night. I don’t know what that means for us, but I respect you too. You’re advising one of your opponents because you think that it is the right thing for the school and caring about the school is what we need out of a vice president. So I’m sorry that I spent all of this time irrationally hating you when you had reason for what you did. I realize now that you were doing what you thought was right for Jem, just as I’m sure you’ll do what’s right for the school.”  
       Will’s eyes widened. She had never realized before then how blue they were, how his dark hair reached just above his eyelashes.  
      Will was attractive.  
      And not in the obvious way, which she had known for a while. No, he was  attractive in how passionately he argued about memes, and how much he cared about Jem. Enough to where he would ask him to go to a school away from him just so he would be happy. Will was attractive because he was passionate, loyal, and intelligent. While it definitely helped that he had a jawline that could cut glass, he was also just a genuinely good person, and that somehow made him more attractive to her than anything else.  
      Realizing she had just been staring at him, and he’d been talking, she blushed. “Er, sorry, what was that? I was zoning.”  
      Will’s amused expression told her that knew exactly where her thoughts were, and her blush darkened. “I was just telling you sorry as well. I should have at least talked to you before I talked to Jem. He was your friend just as much as mine. It was just so hard to talk to you back then.”  
       “I’m not hard to talk to,” Tessa was offended. She was rather pleasant to talk with actually. And rather talented in the art of the memes. Will could not possibly try to argue with her about her innate ability to do the memes.  
       “That’s not what I meant.” Will brushed back some hair from his forehead, and he looked away as if suddenly uncomfortable.  
       “I’m very wonderful to talk to,” Tessa said. “If you could not tell from my meme making skills. Imagine that skills being spelt as S-K-I-L-L-Z by the way. It may help you understand my meme talent.”  
       “You’re not-“ Will pursed his lips. “You know what, never mind. You’re a memelord. Tessa Gray, memelord.”  
        “Thank you,” Tessa said, not entirely certain if being a memelord would be another type of meme. She would have to do further research on this if she wanted to be a true memelord as Will suggested she had the potential for.  
        “Tessa?” Will asked as she was about to turn away and do research on the ‘surprise, bitch’ and ‘inappropriate auditions’ memes.  
         “Yes?”  
         “Do you think that, um, maybe, we could try to be friends?”  
         Tessa’s heart stopped. If she had been asked a year ago if she and Will were going to be friends, she would have laughed. Of course, things changed. Tessa was now a memelord. Tessa had clearly changed in the past year, and maybe her feelings on Will was one of them.  
         Besides, the only good thing that has ever come from her hatred of Will was Clary being friends with her.  
         “I would love to be friends, William Herondale,” she said.  
         A gasp sounded from behind her, and her eyes widened. Clary. 


	6. Announcements

      It had been twenty four hours, and Clary still refused to talk to Tessa.   
      But that traitor was not going to be the reason Clary lost this campaign, so she was still going with phase 4. It was especially helpful because this particular phase didn’t involve Tessa at all.   
      All she had to do was make an announcement to the school. Without discussing with       Tessa what she planned on saying.   
      Because she was ignoring Tessa.  
      Because Tessa was a traitor.  
      Worse than a Traitor.   
      A Herondale Supporter.   
      She finally understood what the purebloods felt like when they experienced a blood traitor.   
       Herondales were the ultimate mudbloods.  
       And Tessa was friends with one of them.   
       And it wasn’t Cecily who was alright as far as Herondales went.   
       No.   
       It was Will.   
       Clary had sat down and angrily written poetry explaining her feelings about her friend betraying her for a Herondale the night before. How could Tessa become friends with a Herondale? Okay, so maybe Clary had been somewhat civil to a Herondale a few nights beforehand, but that was because she was trying to reel Jace into a trap of letting her win the election.   
      It was not because she was trying to fraternize with them.   
      Clary gasped. What if Tessa had made the entire plan in order for them to make friends with the Herondales? What if all of her and Tessa’s friendship had been a lie?   
      What if Tessa had been planted by the Herondales as some sort of practical joke by Jace? What if Tessa was really some type of robot that functioned as the ears for receiving all of Clary’s personal information for him to exploit to the world and make her fall into a bottomless pit of social suicide and then _lose the election_?   
      It was the only logical explanation.   
      Did that mean that Tessa wouldn’t be valedictorian if she is clearly a robot? She would have to e-mail her counselor on that one.   
       It was after her second period, art, when she walked to the office to make her announcements for the dance. As long as a student was approved, they were allowed to read all announcements for school and include their own announcements. A couple years before, they didn’t have to have any standards on who they allowed into speaking for the announcements, and it ended up with a girl telling everyone that one of her friends was pregnant with one of the teacher’s babies.   
      So now approval is required.   
     As this was a matter of student council, she had no problems with it.   
     “Hello,” Clary said to her principal, Mrs. Branwell.   
     “Hi, Clary,” she said. “The intercom is over there when you’re ready. Right beside it is a clipboard with all of the other announcements.”  
     “Great!” Clary walked over to the intercom, shuffling through her papers.

***

  
      Tessa walked into her third hour, sitting next to Will awkwardly. Being in creative writing together was something they had shared for a while, and usually Mr. Mortmain paid no attention to the seating chart.   
      “Hey,” Will said apprehensively. “Are you here to lecture me?”  
      “No,” Tessa said. “I really do want to be friends… Clary’s upset with me.”  
      “What for?” Will asked, pulling out his laptop to begin a personal narrative project that was due Friday.  
      “Apparently, I am ‘fraternizing with the enemy,’” Tessa put air quotes around what she said, sighing. Will gave her a quick side hug, and she wondered briefly if that’s what friends did nowadays.   
      She’d never had a boyfriend.  
      Like friend that was male.   
      Certainly not boyfriend.   
      She didn’t like Will.  
      Well, she liked Will.   
     She didn’t _like like_ Will.  
      “I’m sorry, Tess,” Will interrupted her thoughts.   
      “Oh, it’s fine,” she said, hoping her face didn’t betray her thoughts. “I doubt she’s not too mad. She’s doing her announcement today still.”  
       As she said the words, Clary’s voice filled the classroom. “Hello, Shadowhunters! It’s Clary Fray, your future student council president, here to give our daily announcements. First off, I would like to say give it up for our basketball boys! We’re gonna have a great game tonight. Also, National Honor Society is about to do our annual food drive, so please bring in your cans! You will receive community service hours for it! Of course, that was my idea because I know some of you aren’t consistent about doing what’s right. Like my friend Tessa. Or should I call her a friend? I mean, she did betray me and throw my heart against a brick wall, so that doesn’t sound like something a friend would-hey!”

***

  
      It was during her discussion about true friendship that she was cut off by one of the office aids, Raphael Santiago.  
      “Raphael Santia-GO AWAY,” she cried out, trying to use the power of puns to get him away. To no avail however.   
      “You can’t use this time to go for petty gossip,” he snapped.  
      “This isn’t gossip! Tessa sucks!”  
      “Oh, my god,” he groaned. “This is going to be another announcement fiasco, isn’t it?”  
      Clary didn’t want him to be right, but she also didn’t want Tessa to win.   
      So she ran over to the intercom, pulled the phone off its hinge, and screamed.  
      “TESSA GRAY IS NOT A TRUE FRIEND. SHE IS FRATERNIZING WITH THE ENEMY. THE HERONDALES. TRUE FRIENDS DON’T GO FOR HERONDALES, AND SHE COMPLETELY BETRAYED ME. DEUCES, SHADOWHUNTERS. FRAY OUT.”  
       And she hung up the phone, strutting out of the office.

***

  
       Tessa’s eyes widened. She had never heard such an impassioned speech by Clary. Normally, Clary was just the type to angstily write poetry about her feelings.  
       “Wow,” Will said, looking as if he was trying to stifle laughter.  
       “I can’t believe she did that,” Tessa said.  
       “So,” he grinned. “You’re fraternizing with me?”  
       “Not you too,” she groaned. “I can’t deal with judgement from both of you today. Please just cut it out.”  
        Will’s face turned serious, “I’m not judging you. I’m glad we are now friends. And as your friend, I must say that you seriously need some hot cocoa.”  
        “I’m not cutting class,” Tessa whispered the words because they were too vile to say loudly.  
        “Think how pissed Clary would look,” Will said, and Tessa had to be honest. She was won over with that line.   
        “Yeah, I think it’s necessary.”  
        _So I’ve gone off the deep end_ , she thought as she walked hand in hand with Herondale to his car during fifth hour. People that wanted to cut class always went with the concurrent enrollment kids around this time.  
       They walked to his car, a cute little Malibu, before he finally spoke up.  
       “This ought to make you look less serious about school if people found out, you might have a chance to beat me.”  
       “The election,” Tessa sighed. “I forgot honestly.”  
       They sat down in the car, and she put her head in her hands. She could not believe that they were fighting. They were best friends.  
       “Do you think she’s going to forgive me?” Tessa asked, and Will frowned.   
       He started to drive before he answered, “I honestly don’t know, Tess.”  
       “What do you mean?”  
       “Sometimes when friends fight with each other, they’re not fighting about one issue really. Maybe it’s not just me she’s upset with.”  
       “I don’t know what else I’ve done though,” Tessa said.   
       “Maybe she’s starting to realize that you shouldn’t be friends with people just because you hate the same people.”  
       “But that’s how the best friendships start,” Tessa argued. “Talking shit about other people is how girls bond. If you say enough mean things about another person, then you become best friends. Guaranteed.”  
       “Maybe you should make friends with people because they’re positive influences,” Will said.   
        And she realized then that she really never had grounds to hate William Herondale. All he wanted was for his friends to be happy, and Tessa respected that.  
        She had made friends with Clary for a bad reason.  
        So maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that they weren’t friends anymore, then.


	7. The Rally and the Raffle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.

      It was the day of the Herondale raffle, and it was now that Clary had to be friends with Tessa again.  
      Or appear to be friends with her at least.   
      See, today, they were required to put on their rally as the plan required it. So she was going to be civil with her for that reason.  
       It was during second hour that she texted the traitor and explained that the rally was still ago despite her behavior.  
       Tessa replied with a faceless expression emoji right before lunch, showing that she meant business.  
       What a bitch.  
       It was during that thought that she ran into her brother, Jonathon.  
      “Brother,” she said calmly.  
      “Sister,” he replied.  
      “What do you want from me?” she asked, figuring he had a purpose if he was doing such powerful manipulation tactics as these. Calling her sister meant that he was pulling the hardball.  
      “You need to make up with Tessa,” Jonathon said. “Jace has complained about it for a long time. It’s annoying. I could’ve sworn I saw his curls look less than perfect the other day, and that means something detrimental.”  
      “I’m not making up with a traitor,” Clary scoffed.  
      “Fine,” Jon shrugged. “I don’t really care.”  
      “You don’t really care?” Clary snapped, and she flipped her hair dramatically. It probably would have been much more dramatic had she not been wearing a ponytail and rendering it unable to move.  
       “No?” Jon said it more as a question.  
       “Oh, you care alright,” Clary said. “This is a manipulation tactic, I could see it from a mile away.”  
       “Yeah, okay, whatever. Can I borrow twenty bucks? I have a date tonight.”  
       “You would want twenty bucks,” Clary laughed, pointing her fingers at his chest. “Typical of a Herondale supporter.”  
        “Sure,” Jonathon said.  
       She rolled her eyes and handed him the money before marching off with her last shreds of dignity.   
       When she reached the lunch room, she met up with the brown haired traitor and almost screamed.  
       “Hey, Clary,” Tessa said, looking apprehensive.   
       “Hi, traitor,” Clary told her dismissively.   
       “Clary,” Tessa sighed.  
       “No need for words, traitor. We are just doing this for the election.”  
       “Won’t it look suspicious if we aren’t friends?”  
       “No, it shows that we are willing to work through our differences for the good of the student body. Your complete lack of knowledge on this matter shows very clearly why we should not be friends.”  
       “Clary-“  
       “Shh,” Clary said. “I don’t want to hear your lies anymore.”  
       “You’re being dramatic.”  
       “I am not being dramatic!” Clary snapped.   
       “Really?”  
       “I’m not the one that is betraying my friends for guys.”  
       “Clary, we shouldn’t be friends because we hate other people. That’s wrong.”  
       “That’s why everyone is friends, Tessa,” Clary rolled her eyes.  
       “Clary, that’s not what friendship should be about. It should be about bringing each other up, not tearing other people down.”  
       “What kind of Gandhi ass shit are you yammering on about?” Clary rolled her eyes, and Tessa was about to reply before they realized that they had an audience.  
       Which would make sense as they were kind of in the middle of the lunch room with mics on for the rally.  
       Professionality.  
       “The kind that buys dance tickets,” Tessa says instead.  
       “Wait, so you’re saying the way to peace… is to buy tickets?”  
       “Oh, yes, it is. And if you buy a ticket today, you’ll be donating to a wonderful cause.”  
       The audience ate that up. Everybody loved to support charity, especially the really vague ones that companies use to sell their merchandise.  
       They actually managed to reach their goal for the rally in that hour.   
       Maybe they should have not been friends all along.

***

  
       “Well that was simply magical,” Will was saying as Tessa walked into the student sponsored events room. It was more crowded than ever, which made sense considering that the boys were raffling away their bodies at this particular moment. “I’ve never seen such an inspirational rally for selling dance tickets. But today we are selling something much more important, ladies.”  
        “Now, keep in mind,” Jace said. “If you have no interest in the Herondale blood-“  
        There was a trail of gasps from around the room.   
        “Of course we aren’t expecting that,” Will laughed. “But if such a case arises, as we have already explained, those willing to vote for us are allowed to put whatever name they please into the cup. Do we have anybody else that wants to put their names in real quick?”  
        A few kids raised their hands, and the boys let them put their names in.   
        And that was when the raffle officially began. Jace gave a lengthy introduction, and as he was doing it Will snuck off the podium.   
       And went straight to her.   
       “Oh, hi,” Tessa said. He surprised her with a long hug and a kiss on her cheek.   
       “Woah, friendly,” Tessa said, worried that the other girls could see her blush. A couple of men were already staring at her jealously, and she hoped that she could give the “but he could be bi or pan” facial expression she was going for.   
        “Oh, sorry, was that weird?” Will said. “I just saw you in the crowd and wanted to say hey. Are you feeling better? I saw the rally. Sorry you guys had to end your silence that way.”  
        “Oh, it’s no big deal,” Tessa said. “Could you lean down again though?”  
        He shrugged before leaning down for her.   
        And she pulled his face to hers and pressed her lips against his.   
        His hands immediately went around her waist, and she gasped. She wasn’t expecting to do this earlier, it’s just it really was upsetting her that he was over there using his attractiveness to get votes and it was unfair because it was sexist.   
        She was doing this specifically because she wanted to end sexism. Not because she was jealous at all.  
        And then she pulled away because she realized that’s exactly why she was kissing him.  
       “Wow,” Will said, and he started to lean into her again.  
       “Wait, stop. We need to talk about us before we do anything else,” Tessa said. “This is moving too quickly.”  
       “You’re right,” Will said, and she noticed then that he was breathing heavily. And that there were a bunch of people watching this. She really had become a lot less vanilla today.  
       “And now for who is going to the dance with Will,” Jace announced.   
       “Oh, God, sorry if I ruined this,” Tessa whispered, and he squeezed her hand.   
       A bunch of girls were staring at her, and she felt her heart pounding.   
       “Tessa Gray.”

***

  
       Clary couldn’t believe it.   
       Tessa really was trying to kill her.   
       She kissed him.  
       In front of everybody. It was as if she was not Tessa anymore, but just some random girl that she would make fun of for liking a Herondale.   
       And then Jace had announced that Tessa was to be Will’s dance partner. Someone had clearly put her name in the bin because everybody knew Tessa wasn’t going to not vote for herself just for a guy.   
Jace left the podium where the audience was in a riot. She had not even heard who had been his running mate, but based on how all of the girls were yelling at Aline Penhallow, it wouldn’t shock her who it was. It did shock her that Aline’s face had turned a slightly greenish color, and she wondered why someone would be so excited about a Herondale that they’d throw up.  
       “Oh, dear, God!” Clary screamed as she felt Jace’s hand at her shoulder.   
       “We need to talk,” he said.  
       “Ugh,” she whined. “I don’t want to talk to a Herondale.”  
       “Clary, come on.”  
       She glared at him but let him drag her away from the audience.  
       “Alright, you can’t be mean to Tessa for this,” Jace said when they reached a coat closet.   
       “What does that mean?” Clary snapped.   
       “Your election is going to be thwarted if you don’t let this happen. The girls will get over their jealousy for Tessa when they start it.”  
       “Start what?”  
       “The shipping,” Jace said slowly as if she were stupid.  
       “The what?”  
       “I already heard whisperings of them saying Wessa…” Jace paced around, running his hand through his curls.  
       “Who is them?”  
       “The fangirls.”  
       Clary gasped. The fangirls were well-known in this school. Journalists that made the OTP of the week in the school newspaper column.   
       They may very well be the Valentine’s Day OTP.   
       And if that wasn’t terrifying, then Clary wasn’t sure what was.  
       “It’s disgusting,” Clary sighed.   
       “Like you’re one to talk!” Jace glared. “Clebastian might be the Valentine’s Day OTP instead.”  
       “What are you talking about?” Clary glared at him.   
       “I saw you two in the cafeteria,” Jace said. She knew that face. It was the face he had any time she had had a boyfriend over the years.   
       The face that said he was planning on ruining it.  
       “That is none of your business,” Clary said.  
       “It’s every bit of my business when you flaunt it around the school,” Jace had lost his cool. She could tell this was why he was trying to talk to her originally.  
        She shoved him, but he didn’t budge.   
         “I can’t believe you,” she snapped. “This is not any of your concern. I can be with who I want.”  
         “Yeah, it doesn’t stop you from being a slut.”  
        She gasped. He had never called her anything like that before. No matter how irritating Jace was, he always treated her with respect that he gave everyone else.   
        Based on his facial expression, he was shocked that he had said it too.   
        Tears formed in her eyes as she walked away from him.   
        “Clary, wait!” Jace called, but she kept walking.  
        Until she hit the door of the broom closet that she forgot she was in and felt a sharp sting on her nose where she had hit it.  
         And then she continued storming off (though it was not entirely as dramatic as she had wanted). 


	8. Candy Grams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare. Also, I want to say thank you to Shuuwai for the lovely comments on my chapters, and that I would reply but I'm not entirely certain if it is a direct message or not that is used in AO3 as I just started using it recently. Clary and Tessa will be friends again, I promise, but they have to develop for it to be a good friendship. I don't want them to like each other because they dislike other people because I have had friends like that, and it's not good. Thank you so much, and I'm not sure if you can do this on here, but on previous sites I've used you can dedicate chapters. I'm just going to say right here that I dedicate this to Shuuwai because I only recently started writing again, and seeing comments like that are so encouraging to move forward. Thank you, and my tumblrs are bookscatsandunhealthyobsessions and baelin-whitethorn, so if you have those I can communicate with you outside of the notes lol.

      Phase six.   
      Or the one phase that was going to determine whether or not Clary and Tessa were going to be the next student council leaders.   
      Of course, this would have been a lot less stressful if Clary were actually talking to her.   
      That didn’t change though. Clary was even angrier after the whole kissing debacle, which Tessa was still trying to make sense of herself.   
      So instead Tessa sat in her bedroom, doing homework. It was kind of odd to her that in all of the novels she read, the characters barely ever did homework. That seemed a little unreasonable. Sure, they have to fight demons, but don’t they also have to do mindless problems about the Pythagorean Theorem as well? Isn’t that a fundamental method in the American educational system? Surely demons cannot erase a school system made to prepare children for work because the economy would always be more important to the government than a bunch of people dying from demons.   
      So, she did her mandatory Pythagorean Theorem homework, or what was really using the equivalence theorems to figure out if the angles could exist at all, and thought about what was going on.  
      She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do about Will. She did like him, but she also liked Clary. Her friendship with her really might completely go away if she only exacerbates the situation.   
      However, was that friendship a good thing? Tessa didn’t want to turn into a mean girl like Cady Heron did in the hit 2005 movie “Mean Girls.” That didn’t seem like it would be very good for her. Will was most certainly not a mean girl, and Clary making friends with people based on hating someone seemed like something a mean girl would do.   
      She decided that she was going to not make any decisions until she was certain she would not regret it.   
      And so after she finished her homework, she lay in her bed and thought about it some more. Her alarm kept trying to explain to her that she needed to start getting ready for school, and she kept trying to explain to it that she was fully aware of that but needed time to contemplate her life dramatically. The alarm clearly was not listening, so instead she turned it off.  
      Oh, what an awful existence.  
      When she drove to school that morning, she caught Clary’s eyes in the halls. The redhead’s eyes were bloodshot, and Tessa wondered with a pang if she were the reason why.

***

     “Do you like a deal?” Clary said to her first hour, holding a bag of candy grams. She was counting on her school to be the cheapskates she always knew they were.  
      And they certainly fell to these charms. All of her first hour that had not already purchased a ticket bought some for themselves and their clicks.   
In fact, it became a trending tag on the school’s Edmodo. She wasn’t really sure if it could be called trending, but many people were excitedly taking selfies of them and their squad with reduced price dance tickets.   
      It soon became the biggest trend.   
      Her school really did love saving a buck or two.  
      She got people asking for autographs on their candy grams, people asking how to spell her name so they could name their babies after her, and a few kids took their picture with her so that they could tweet the extreme couponer’s twitter account.   
      So, yes, the sale worked.   
      In fact, they were so successful that by the end of the day 98% of the school’s population had bought dance tickets. The only kids that didn’t buy them were the weird goth kids that hung out at the Hotel Dumort all of the time and said they refused to conform to the school society.  
     But they were seriously the least of Clary’s problems.   
     Because this school was about to be her territory. She was going to be the president of student council.  
     Everything she had ever could have possibly dreamed of had come to fruition.  
     Because of the plan that she and her best friend had made.  
     What was she going to do? She and Tessa were friends with each other based on the belief that Herondales were awful. How could she stay friends with her when the basis of their friendship was a lie?  
     But then she thought about what Tessa had said earlier. It was not really a friendship if it was based on a bad thing. Friends should be a positive force used to help one another, and if that meant bashing other people then they shouldn’t be a thing.   
     She was a cheerleader. While it was often advertised as a bunch of bitches in cute uniforms, it was really about the camaraderie made between a bunch of bitches in cute uniforms.  
     And she understood camaraderie well. She and Tessa were probably the closest two people could be platonically and without familial relations. Unfortunately, the foundation that they started it on was not necessarily a good thing.   
     That didn’t mean she didn’t hate the Herondales. She absolutely did.   
     But it also shouldn’t be the only reason she’s friends with someone.   
     Would she and Tessa have made friends if they didn’t have that connection? Clary had always been impulsive, had a short temper. Tessa was her opposite. While the saying went that opposites did attract, she was not entirely certain it mattered in this situation.   
      She wanted to be friends with Tessa more than anything, but she also didn’t want to change just to be friends with her.

***

  
      Clary pulled the straightener through her hair that night, contemplating how she wanted this to go.   
      Going on a date with Sebastian was probably the highlight of her day. She had been thinking about him ever since earlier today when he proposed they go on a date tonight.   
      She hadn’t been on a date in quite a while, thanks to Jace. But Sebastian seemed to really like her, and she really liked him.   
      She really didn’t like her hair though.   
      One side was straight, and the other was pretty much a Tegan and Sara song. That is to say, it was not straight.   
      She made a frustrated noise as she powered through straightening her hair, figuring that she would probably die as of this point.   
      Dying seemed like a good thing though, when Jace barged into her bathroom.  
      “Dude, knocking,” Clary snapped.  
      “I have to pee,” Jace told her, and she glared at him.  
      “I’m straightening my hair. For my date tonight.”  
      “I really don’t care, B cups. But I have to pee. So go.”  
      “This is my house!”  
      “You pee in my house all of the time!”  
      “I was a little girl, and I had a small bladder. Why are you still blaming me for that?”  
      “Because you were fifteen!”  
      “Wetting the bed is a normal thing!”  
      “Can I please pee?”   
      Clary screamed, and she didn’t move.   
      That is until he pulled off his pants anyways and went about his business.   
      “MOOOOOM,” she shrieked. “THE NEIGHBOR IS PISSING IN FRONT OF ME.”  
      “CLARY, WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING JACE’S SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY PARTY AGAIN.”  
      “WETTING THE BED IS A NORMAL THING.”  
      Jace cleared his throat, and Clary realized that she had been staring at him a bit. Her face flushed and she turned around.  
      Good lord.   
     “Okay, I’m done,” Jace announced, and Clary rolled her eyes. Okay, so she had totally seen him naked before, they had walked in on each other in the shower many times over the year, and really this wasn’t any different than that.   
      But that was before the election. There was something different about their relationship now that made her blush like she was doing now.   
      And she wasn’t sure if she liked that change.  
      “Wash your hands,” she told him, jerking her head to the sink.   
      “Scoot over then,” he said, bumping her with his hip. She shivered.   
      Asshole.   
      He methodically washed his hands, whistling as he did so. She very subtly stared open mouthed at his butt as he did it, not having noticed before today that he happened to have a very nice butt.   
       “Clary, why are you staring at my butt?”  
       “Why are you staring at your… _mom’s_ butt?”  
       “What?”  
       “Go away, Jace!”  
       He gave her a confused facial expression before exiting the bathroom. She stared at her reflection, realizing that the date was in five minutes.  
       And her hair was half 90’s Ellen and half 00’s Ellen.   
       Shoving on a small black dress and coating her lips with lipsticks, she panicked. What was she going to do?   
       She found a pair of black high heel boots, pulling them on as well.   
       She eventually decided that her best option was to just shove her hair in a ponytail so that it couldn’t be obvious that part of it was straight and the other was not.   
       It was after she had pulled back her hair that she heard a knock on the door downstairs, and she ran down.   
       Jace looked up when she reached the room, and she realized that he was looking at her in the same way that she had been looking at him earlier.   
       What could that mean?  
       But she wasn’t able to think about this much because Sebastian was now at her front door, grinning at her and waving with the hand that wasn’t holding the flowers.   
       “Bye, guys!” Clary called to her family and Jace, and exited the room quickly.   
       Sebastian smiled down at her, and she blushed. She hoped that she looked okay.   
       “So, where are we going?” Clary asked, and he grinned.  
       “This little restaurant just out of town.”  
       “Oh, great,” Clary said.   
       He smiled and took her hand, and she felt a blush on her face.  
       The “restaurant”, Alicante, ended up being a small, poorly lit bar like place. On the inside, it resembled a sleazy club.   
       “You like dancing, right?”  
       “Sure,” Clary said, not really sure what she was supposed to do in this situation.   
       He walked to the bar, ordering her some bright blue drink that appeared to have a lot of alcohol in it.   
       “Fairy juice,” he said in her ear. “It’s addictive.”  
       She didn’t know what to say. She really was not someone that enjoyed drinking, and she knew the effects were dangerous. It was also common knowledge that one should not take drinks from men as roofies were a clear threat. In fact, she had avoided drinking ever since her first experience, which involved a game of would you rather and a lot of vomit afterwards. But she really wanted him to like her in that second. So she downed the drink.   
Immediately, the effects took over, and she began to dance.   
       She had never felt so free as she grinded her hips against Sebastian’s. He chuckled and let her touch him as much as she wanted, and touch she did. She moved her hands over his strong arms, through his hair, on his chest.   
       She giggled and started dancing with someone else, some girl that she actually recognized as a senior from her school, Seelie.  
       “Clary?” she asked. “I did not expect to see you here.”  
       “I am free!” Clary giggled. She had never felt so great in her life.  
       “I can see that,” Seelie laughed, and Clary danced with her a little bit.   
       Pretty soon, she was in Sebastian’s arms, and he offered her another drink.   
       The plan was successful. She didn’t have to worry anymore.   
       She was going to be president, and she was going to finally have a boyfriend. Jace couldn’t even mess that up for her.   
       Her hands knotted in Sebastian’s hair, and she molded her lips to his.   
       He sighed into her lips, and they continued grinding into each other. Before, she had had no control over anything, now she felt entirely in control. Her hands moved lower and lower until they reached the buckle of his belt, and he gasped against her lips.   
        “Let’s go,” Sebastian said.  
        And Clary accepted the offer.  
        Or she would have if it had not been in that moment that Jace showed up.  
        He gasped at the sight of Clary, pulling her into his arms.   
        “Are you drunk?” he sounded pissed.  
        “You are,” she giggled, moving into his shoulder. “Why are you being such a buzz kill? Sebastian is going to take me home, and we’re going to do the _naughty_ things.”  
       “Did you get her drunk?” Jace snapped at Sebastian, pulling her closer to him.   
       “Yeah, what’s it to you?” Sebastian said.   
       “You are supposed to take care of her!” Jace yelled at the other guy, and Clary flinched against his shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly.  
       “Why are you judging me? I was just trying to get a little-“  
       Before he could explain what he was trying to get a little of, Jace’s hand had connected with Sebastian’s face and Clary realized she was somehow not in his arms anymore.     Sebastian’s nose started bleeding, and Jace glared at him.   
        “What the fuck was that for?” Sebastian snapped.  
        “For not knowing what consent is,” Jace said to him, and he grabbed Clary’s hand.

        "That wasn't a very good comeback, Jace," Clary said to him.  
        “We’re going, Clary,” Jace said, pulling her with him.   
        “Jace, I don’t want to go. I want more Fairy Juice,” she whined.   
        “You’re not getting it,” Jace pulled her up into his arms like a baby, and she glared at him.  
        “What are you going to do?” Sebastian sneered at Jace, who told him he would call the cops.   
        “Jace, please,” Clary sighed into his shoulder, but Jace didn’t budge.   
        With more coaxing though, they went out of the club, and he pulled her into his car.   
        When he started to drive, he whispered, “Clary, don’t go with men like that. Please.”  
       “Who are you to judge?” Clary almost yelled.   
       “I would never try to sleep with a girl who was not in a position to be giving proper consent,” Jace said slowly. “And I am not going to allow you to be around guys that don’t follow that code.”  
        Clary knew that she shouldn’t be angry with Jace, but she also couldn’t help it. He had always done this.   
       “I would have consented any time.”  
       “Then he shouldn’t have had to get you drunk, then,” Jace said.   
       “I hate you.”  
       “I’d rather you hate me than for him to hurt you like that.”  
       “Why do you care?”  
       “Why do I care?” Jace stared at her incredulously before turning his gaze back to the road. “Clary, you’re Jonathon’s little sister. I have seen you grow up and have grown up with you for years. I care about your safety, and somebody has to care about it.”  
        “I care about it,” Clary glared.  
        “Not enough,” Jace said, sighing.  
        “I don’t see why you would do it, even then. Why you do this every time I have a chance with someone. You don’t seem like you care about me at all-“  
         “I love you!” Jace yelled.   
         And Clary couldn’t argue with that. 


	9. Stick to the Status Quo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

      It was phase seven of the plan, and at this point Tessa was pretty certain that the plan had no purpose as of this point.   
     Of course, it didn’t help that this part of the plan was where she had to be what she had been a month earlier, which would be a difficult feat.   
     Because she _like liked_ William Herondale, and if someone were to tell her that a month earlier, she probably would have expected Ashton Whatever-His-Last-Name-Is to come out because she was most certainly being pranked.  
    What an awful use of a television program.  
    The point of the matter was that she had to act like she hated Will’s guts after, well, making out with him. In front of a giant crowd.  
     So she was obviously not sticking to the status quo, which was very concerning as that was the best song in all of the High School Musical franchise and gave the best morals of all of them. The rule was to be cool for people to like you, and if that wasn’t the best advice   Tessa had ever been given, she didn’t know what was.   
      She really needed to ask Will about his feelings of High School Musical because if he was another one of those Sharpay bashers, she would go back to hating him again. Okay, seriously though, Sharpay spent her entire life working so that she would be a wonderful actress, and then some goody two-shoes who doesn’t even care about musicals that much comes and ruins everything. And steals Troy Bolton.   
      What an awful ending to what would have been such a promising movie.   
      Tessa breathed a puff of air, realizing that she was feeling a little anxious at the mentions of High School Musical.   
      Okay.   
Rant over.   
      Phase seven.   
      Sticking to the status quo.   
      This basically meant that Tessa had to act as she always had, or at least for the past three years had, which meant completely undoing the past month of effort.   
      So basically, Tessa was rejecting the plan.   
      And, really, at this point, why did it matter? 98% of the students had bought dance tickets, and Tessa really didn’t want to be around Clary any more than absolutely necessary.   
      Tessa sighed, pushing away the homework in front of her as if it were Pickles the cat from Neko Atsume.   
      She really hated Pickles the cat. How could everyone hate Tubbs when all he ever did was eat food and take naps afterwards? He always left very generous donations afterwards, unless someone forced him away from his food. Tubbs was good, pure, trustworthy.  People’s hatred for him was irrational. Pickles, however, was a menace. How was he going to just go into every yard with his 0 power level and then visit 37 times? Seriously, Pickles, no one likes you. No one likes your smug face or your lack of gold fish or how you leave one silver fish for everything.   
       Pickles was awful.   
       This was beside the point because in twenty minutes, William Herondale was going to be at her house.   
       And so that basically meant she was going to die.  
       She knew that she could be maximizing her time and doing her homework, but she really couldn’t care less at this point. Everybody deserved to have teenage moments, and Tessa was having hers.   
      She tried to decide if she should change clothes or something. Or maybe she should just avoid talking to him completely. Like playing hard to get or something. Except that would mean that she was going to have to avoid him when he came over here specifically so they could talk about their feelings, so she figured that probably wasn’t the best way to go with it.  
      Okay, so maybe she should just change clothes. Yeah. Clothes. What was the best thing to wear when one was trying to explain their feelings but also explain their distinct feelings about certain cats in Neko Atsume and also trying to play hard to get?  
      She figured that this was definitely a time in which she needed to wear her blue dress. It screamed exactly that. She also pulled back her hair, glancing at her reflection in the mirror.   
      Oh no, she looked like she was trying too hard.   
      So instead she put on a pair of pajamas and made her hair look as nasty as possible, and just as she had finished with brushing Vaseline through it to make it look greasy, the doorbell rang.   
       “Oh, shit,” she mumbled to herself before running downstairs and grabbing a tub of Half Baked Ben and Jerry’s.   
       Walking to the door, she smoothed down her pajamas, then realized that’s what people who were trying would do and scrunched it back up again.   
       “Hello, Will,” she said in a distinctly disinterested voice, licking from the tub as vulgarly as she could muster.   
       “Oh, hey, Tess. Are you feeling sick?” Will put his hand on her forehead, and she leaned into his touch. Then realized that’s what people who were trying would do and punched him on the shoulder good-naturedly.  
       “What’s up, Buttercup? My man? My buddy, friend, pal-dude? What is up in the hizzy dizzy house? High five for the ladies, am I right?” Tessa offered her hand to him for practicing the colloquial hand tradition, but he declined from her offer. She imagined that meant that he wanted to be more than “bros”.   
      “Are you okay, Tess? You’re acting strange. Maybe you should sit down?” Will took her hand then, walking her to her couch and sitting beside her.   
       “I am most certainly not acting strange,” Tessa snapped.  
       “You just tried to high five me after suggesting you were fond of women,” Will argued.   
       “And women are a wonderful, important, vital part of our species. Of course we should high five for them,” Tessa countered.   
       “I don’t think that’s how that works.”  
       “I don’t think that’s how your mom works. Oh, snap! What you gonna do now, Herondale?”  
       “Tessa-“  
       “Too slow! Burn!”  
       “Tessa-“  
       “Loser alert!”  
       “Tessa-“  
      Tessa opened her mouth to respond, but then his lips were on hers and she was silenced again.   
       “What was that?” Tessa asked, pulling away.   
       “I had to get you to stop. So we could talk about this. Listen, I know you’re nervous, but I really like you, and I think you really like me. We could make this work, I know we could.”  
       Tessa tried to hide her smile, but she was unsuccessful. Will _like liked_ her.   
       And so she said, “What is there to talk about?” and their lips met again.

***

  
      Clary woke up, groaning in Jace’s bed.  
      And in Jace’s bedroom.  
      Shit.   
      “What happened?” she whispered to herself, trying to figure out based on her surroundings in the room. She saw no clothes on the floor, so she figured she at least didn’t do that. Somehow, though, it made it worse. The idea of a Herondale and her just sleeping in a bed together was vile. If she were just giving into teenage hormones, it may have been fine. But no. It didn’t appear to be that.   
      “Clary?” Jace said, walking into the bedroom, hair wet like he’d just showered.  
      “What happened?” she asked, not really sure what she was supposed to do as the man in front of her was her arch nemesis.  
      “You got drunk on your date with Sebastian,” Jace grimaced before sitting at the foot of the bed.  
      “And what happened then?” Clary asked, not really sure what she was supposed to say to that.   
      “I took you home before he could do anything,” Jace said, sighing. “You don’t remember anything, do you? How much did you even drink?”  
      “Well, I remember the fairy juice. And I had to drink at least a bottle of that, maybe two. I’m not someone who really drinks ever, so it wouldn’t shock me if that much made me forget. I remember bits and pieces. Do you think Sebastian was going to hurt me?”  
       “I don’t know what I think, but I’m glad you got out of there,” Jace said. “I took you here because I didn’t think you’d want your mom to know that you got drunk, and I told her that you were crashing here because I needed you to do an art assignment for me. I slept in Will’s room.”  
       “Oh,” Clary said. She didn’t know why, but she was a little upset that Jace hadn’t stayed with her.   
       “I didn’t want to take advantage of you,” Jace explained, seeing her face. “I figured if you were in your right senses, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”  
       “Yeah, totally,” Clary said, but they both knew she was lying at this point.   
       So what did that mean for them?  
       Why was Clary so upset about this? It was just Jace. The annoying guy that she had lived next to for years. She really had never once thought that he could be protective of her. Or at least that she would be accepting of his protection.   
       And then she thought back to all of the times that he had messed with her boyfriends. None of them appeared to be any better than Sebastian. He was trying to take care of her.   
      Which made no sense because didn’t Jace hate her?  
      “Listen,” Jace said. “I think you should stay here today. It’s Saturday, so there’s no school. But you need to be with someone, and I don’t want you to have to go home.”  
      “Um, yeah. Okay. Do you mind telling me what happened with us?” Clary ran her hand through her hair. She wasn’t sure what she wanted him to tell her.   
      “Well, I drove you home. And took your hair out of the ponytail because you kept complaining about it. You also said something about Orange Is the New Black while you did it, so I’m not entirely sure what that means.”  
      “Oh, god,” Clary groaned, running her hand through her hair. It had already reverted to the original curls, but she felt somewhat embarrassed that Jace had seen it half done.   
       Of course, he had already seen it before.   
      “By the way,” Clary added. “Peeing in front of me? What was that for?”  
       Jace shrugged, “You’ve done it before.”  
      “It’s normal to wet the bed.”  
       Jace made a face, “Agree to disagree.”  
       Clary glared at him a little longer, not wanting to admit that she had been a little drunk that night too.   
       “Listen,” Jace said. “We need to talk about this. Are you okay?”  
       “I’m fine,” Clary sighed.   
       “Are you sure?”  
       “It’s just really weird… I don’t remember it happening, but I remember drinking and thinking that I would have let him do anything. I’m really glad you got there before it could happen.”  
       Jace grimaced, “So, you’re not mad at me?”  
      Clary’s eyes widened. “Why would I be mad at you?”  
      “You told me you were last night.”  
      “Well, I was drunk last night.”  
      Jace nodded. Shrugged. Looked away.   
      “So, you don’t remember anything after leaving then?”  
      “Nope,” Clary said, popping the p.   
      He blushed, and she wasn’t entirely certain what that meant. She didn’t know if she wanted to know what it meant.   
       This was Jace.   
       So why did it mean something entirely different now when it came to him?


	10. The Art of Seduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare. Hopefully, this book will be finished by today!

      Clary stared at her planner.  
      It was February 5th, and she was supposed to be on Phase 8 by this point.  
      Did the plan even matter to her anymore?  
      The foundation of her friendship with Tessa was this plan, and at this point, she was considering giving up on it.  
      The plan was originally by this point that she was to seduce Jace, a thought that had originally disgusted her. Now, it intrigued her. Though she’d never admit that out loud. To anybody. Or anything. Hell, she should probably erase the thoughts from her brain completely with some kind of new age technology.  
      That was definitely the only solution.  
      And so, Clary pretended that Jace did not exist internally, and considered what she wanted to do.  
      Obviously, she wanted to remain friends with Tessa, but what was their friendship if it was based on something mean? She had come to recognize that that is a toxic friendship, and she doesn’t think that Tessa deserves a toxic friendship.  
      And it wasn’t that they didn’t bond on a ton of things- they loved to read, loved High School Musical and hated the ending, hated Pickles the cat, and were in student council together. They were pretty compatible, and opposites attract for the parts that they weren’t compatible on.  
      So maybe their friendship wasn’t entirely about hating Herondales, but Clary didn’t want to be friends with anything because she hated Jace.  
      Because she didn’t hate Jace. Not even a little bit.  
      Sure, he was totally over protective and pushy and totally ran against her which is not cool, but he also was so kind and caring and challenged her more than anybody else ever tried to.  
      Asshole.  
      She wasn’t sure what she planned on doing at this point.  
      Being friends with Tessa was important, but at what cost?  
      And so Clary lay down and thought some more.  
      And then she decided.

***

  
      Tessa lay beside Will, who was typing up another report for creative writing based on southern gothic literature. They were supposed to draw genres and pick a book to read in order to get them to actually participate in reading as an author, but that basically meant   Tessa and Will read while a bunch of other assholes chose short stories from the genre.  
       “What’s up?” Will asked, looking up from his laptop.  
       “It’s Clary,” Tessa sighed.  
       “What about her?”  
       Tessa snuggled into his side, something that was just kind of allowed by some silent rule at this point. Clary would have told her that that was something that girlfriends got to do if she were there, but she wasn’t there to talk to. So Tessa resorted to Will.  
      “It’s just that, well, you remember that plan that we had that I told you about?”  
      “The annihilation plan for the elections? How could I forget your evil scheming? It’s so cute.”  
      Tessa blushed as he kissed her nose and signaled for her to continue.  
      “It’s just that it felt like our friendship was about that plan. Well, not exactly that plan, but just that our friendship was about our hatred of Herondales. And that seems wrong, which is something I figured out through your help I guess. I don’t know. I just think that she’s being entirely irrational, you know? But I’m also worried about her. Last week, she went on this date with that douche Sebastian, and apparently he got her drunk. That’s so unlike her. What if she had hurt herself?”  
      Will sighed, brushing her hair soothingly.  
      “It’s not your fault that Clary is doing reckless things, but if you care about her then your friendship is based off of something entirely different. You guys may have started your friendship for a bad reason, but I think that you guys care about each other for good reasons now,” Will said.  
      Tessa smiled at him. “So what do you suggest I do?”  
      Will shrugged. “Maybe you should make a new plan.”

***

  
      Clary cringed at herself in the mirror. She was wearing the black dress that she had last week, but this time her hair was completely straightened and pulled back in a neat bun on her head. She also applied some eye makeup, and dabbed on a little bit that would surely have Isabelle squealing.  
      Phase eight was ago.  
      Now, phase eight was entirely different now. She was doing it because she wanted Jace to make out with her, but that was beside the point.  
      She could sneak in stuff about the election too.  
      For Tessa.

***  
      “Are you sure she’s going to like it?”  
      “Of course she is.”

***  
      Clary knocked on the Herondale door, and she considered what she was doing with a surprising amount of ease.  
      Maybe she was just really giving up and this was her midlife crisis.  
      Jace answered the door a little bit later, and his eyes widened at the sight of her.  
      “Can I come in?” she asked him.  
      “Yeah,” he said, gulping.  
      She smiled up at him, following him inside. They made awkward small talk until he got up the stairs.  
      “So, what are you doing here?” Jace asked, and she noticed him looking at her butt. Who had a cute butt now, Herondale?  
      “Oh, I was just wanting to ask you a few things about the election…”  
      “Oh, yeah, sure.”  
      She walked into his bedroom and sat on his bed. Ignoring that it still kind of smelled like her.  
      “First off, I want you and Will to drop out,” she said calmly.  
      “Why?” Jace asked.  
      “Because I want to win,” Clary said. “We both know that Magnus and Isabelle are going to run out, so I have it if you quit.”  
      “That’s ridiculous,” Jace told her, sitting beside her.  
      “Do you know what’s really ridiculous?” Clary put her hand on his knee, slowly moving it up.  
      “You?” he gasped.  
      Clary giggled, moving closer to him. She was almost sitting on his lap.  
      “I want to win, Jace,” Clary said. “Tessa and I’s friendship has a good reason to exist with student council business, and I can win her back.”  
      Jace rolled his eyes, “I heard about your plan from Will.”  
      “And this is the seduction phase, Herondale,” she murmured in his ear, finally moving to where all of her weight was on his lap. He groaned, seemingly against his will.  
      “Clary, please, stop. I’m begging you,” Jace said, trying to squirm away from her desperately. She only used his squirming to her advantage.  
      Clary smirked. She had to admit, she was having a lot of fun.  
      “Please just make out with me and let me win,” Clary whined.  
      “That’s not fair. You know how I feel about you.”  
      “What do you mean by that?” Clary asked, moving away from him a bit. She had no idea what he was talking about, and she wanted to know.  
      “Oh, god, you really don’t remember.”  
      “Remember what?” Clary asked.  
      Jace gulped. “It doesn’t matter.”  
      Clary sighed, but she didn’t push him any further. Seduction was more important as of now.  
      “Okay, I’ll avoid that. But about this election.”  
      Jace actually moved away from her then. “Clary, I really care about doing right for the school. Sure, I agreed to do this little deal with you, but that was for the wrong reason. I think we should get rid of the deal and make it only about the election.”  
      Clary snapped back quickly. “You’re only saying that because I have so many people going to my dance.”  
       Jace’s eyes widened, “I can’t believe you think that. Clary, I care about our school, and I think that I can make a change. But I only agreed to this because I wanted to be around you more often.”  
      Clary glared at him, “Well, then prove it to me.”  
      And he did just that.  
      Their lips met, and Clary was really glad that her seduction plan worked.  
      But only glad because of the plan working obviously.

***  
      Tessa pulled back from the PowerPoint she had made.  
      It was a simple five step plan. First, bring back to the original scene when they started being friends. Second, be the supportive friend Clary always was. Third, explain why Clary means a lot to her. Fourth, abandon the plan. Fifth, hope that Clary will be friends with her for the right reasons. 


	11. The Art of Alliances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.

      It would have been phase nine today, but for all intents and purposes, it was phase one.   
      Tessa and Clary were going to be friends again. They had to be. Tessa had even said in her journal earlier that she wouldn’t mind losing the election if it meant that she would get to have her friend back.   
      And her plan started today.   
      Now, if she were going with the original plan, she would be making alliances right now. And in a way, that’s what she was doing. But she was trying to get the most important ally to her, not trying to win an election.  
      Tessa breathed through the drive to Clary’s house, not really sure what she was about to do or if she still had it in her.   
      But Clary was important.   
      So she walked to her front yard, and she became the Tessa that she was all those years ago.  
      “CLARISSA FRAY, GET YOUR PALE ASS DOWN HERE, RIGHT NOW,” she screamed.   
      The effect was immediate, and Clary was down her stairs and out the door in about thirty seconds.   
      With Jace Herondale trailing along behind her/  
      But Tessa wasn’t going to say anything about this. This was about Clary.    About making friends with her again.   
      “What are you doing, Tessa?” Clary asked, rubbing her ears like Tessa had hurt them from that far away.  
      “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” Tessa shrieked, walking up to Clary and poking her in the chest.  
       “Clary,” Clary said. “Are you sure you know who you are?”  
       “Clary Fray,” Tessa said. “How dare you stop being friends with me? I say, how dare you?”  
      “Tess, are you doing the thing you did three years ago? Is that what this is?”  
      “HOW DARE YOU FIGURE OUT MY PLAN?”  
      “Tessa, please stop.”  
      “HOW DARE YOU?”  
      Clary laughed, looking upset with herself for doing the action.   
      Then she said, “Okay, Tessa. Maybe.”

***

  
      And now it was phase two of Tessa’s plan, and Clary had given her quite the ammunition to go by.  
      She found out with the help of her journalism skills and her power of making out with Will that Clary and Jace were something of an item.  
      Meaning that she was being totally, 100% hypocritical.   
      But Tessa didn’t care. Because now that their reason for liking each other was completely over, it meant that they could start fresh. This was a way to erase all of the negative parts of their friendship and become friends for a good reason.   
      And Tessa did what she had to do as her friend.  
      She went to Clary’s house on February 10th, and Clary let her in.   
      “What’s going on?” Clary asked, and Tessa sat down on her friend’s bed just as she had many times before.  
      “We need to talk,” Tessa said.  
      “Okay. Let’s talk then.”  
      Tessa looked at her friend. She had always thought Clary was prettier than her, with her bright green eyes and crazy hair. There was something about Clary that made her very distinct. Someone anyone could recognize and think that’s Clary Fray.   
      And Tessa loved that about her friend. It was the reliability that Clary had.   
      And so she was going to be reliable now.  
      “I know about Jace,” she said.  
      Clary sighed.   
     “Who told you?” Clary asked.  
     “You did,” Tessa said. “Because I know you. You’re my best friend, and I knew how you felt a lot longer than you did, I think. And honestly, I don’t judge you for it. What right would I have to judge you for what I did? And also as your best friend, I know that we both know why our friendship crumbled. Because we weren’t friends for a good reason. But if there’s any reason that we need to have, then I want it to be because I love you and I’m really appreciative that we became friends.”  
      Clary’s eyes teared up, and Tessa knew how much it meant because she had always hated crying.  
      “I love you too, Tessa,” Clary told her.   
      “And I drew up this plan,” Tessa said, pulling the laptop out of her purse and showing her the PowerPoint. “Because the only thing that matters is that we stay friends. I don’t care about the election or whatever else, I just want to know that we can be friends again.”  
      Clary smiled at the plan, then said, “You’re already on step four. Which is giving this up.”  
      “Consider it forgotten,” Tessa said.   
      “Well, you got that down,” Clary grinned at her friend.   
      “Yup,” Tessa agreed.  
      “And now for step five.”  
      “And how long do I need to hope for?”  
      “Thirty seconds. Because I could never not be friends with you.”  
      Tessa smiled, and after thirty seconds the girls were both crying and holding onto each other.

***  
      “We would be on phase nine by this point,” Clary said to Tessa after they had caught up on all the details about their shared feelings about Herondales.  
      “Making alliances,” Tessa said. “But what does that mean now?”  
      “It means that we need Aline Penhallow.”

***  
      Aline Penhallow lived in a small house near Tessa’s. When Clary and Tessa went over, she looked pleasantly surprised to see them.  
     “Hello,” she greeted, then offered them to come inside.   
     When they were all congregated into her bedroom, Aline asked, “So what do you girls need?”  
     “We need you to go to the dance,” Clary said.  
     “I am,” Aline said, looking away. “With Jace.”  
     Tessa put her hand on Aline’s shoulder. “I know about Hellen.”  
     Aline’s eyes widened.  
     “How?”  
     Tessa shrugged, “I’m a journalist.”  
     Aline sighed, “So why does this matter?”  
     “Because you need to go to the dance with her and not Jace,” Clary said. “This dance is going to be what changes our school, and it’s going to be what I’m remembered by in our school’s history. And you need to be there because you need to make history too. Think of every kid that has been in hiding like you. You can be their inspiration.”  
     Aline glanced at the two of them, “But why do you think I should be?”  
     Tessa smiled. “I realized something recently, that sometimes we need to have someone to look up to, and we need to start being positive influences. You have that chance for this school. Besides, Clary wants to dance with Jace, and she’s being entirely selfish but she also needs to have an edge.”  
     Aline looked at the two of them.  
     “I want to do it,” she said.

***

  
     “I, Aline Penhallow, hereby regret to announce that I will not be going to the dance with Jace Herondale. Since the ticket will then go to someone else, I’ve decided that I’m going to leave the choice up to him. Meaning that all of you should go to the dance, because I know you've bought the tickets. Now you may get to dance with Jace too."  
      Aline stood in front of the students’ events room, facing a crowd of shocked fangirls. Tessa lay her head on Will’s chest, and he wrapped his arm around her.  
      “This is crazy,” Tessa said in his ear, and he smiled. And then tickled her side, which she hit him for.   
      A girl started yelling.   
     “Who are you going with then?”  
     Aline blushed before finally saying, “Helen Blackthorn.”  
     An entire crowd gasped at her words, and then they all looked at one particular crowd member.   
     Helen walked towards the stage, her face just as red as her girlfriends.   
     “That is, if she wants me to,” Aline said.   
     Helen then ran up to her, and they started kissing. An entire crowd cheered on as they kissed each other, and Tessa smiled at Will.  
     “I’m glad that they have each other,” Tessa said.   
     “I’m glad I have you,” he said.   
     “I mean, for the dance. You haven’t guaranteed anything else.”  
     “Shut up, Tess.”  
     “Oh, you like me,” Tessa giggled.   
     “I actually _like like_ you.”  
     Tessa stopped breathing, “How do you know about that?”  
      “Clary may have told Jace who may have told me.”  
      “Herondales,” Tessa said, wrinkling her nose.   
      “Oh, you like me.”


	12. The Final Phase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

      It was the day before the dance, and Clary was breaking out in stress hives.  
      Which was totally embarrassing because she had a date with Jace once they finished setting up.  
      “Hey, Clary!”  
      Clary turned around to the sound of Tessa’s voice, raising her eyebrows.  
      She jogged up to her, and Clary saw some apprehension on her best friend’s face.  
      “What’s up?”  
      “You haven’t made it public that you and Jace are planning on dancing together, right?” Tessa said in her ear.  
      “No,” Clary said. She knew this was going to be what guaranteed that everybody showed up to the dance.  
      Even if she and Jace were a thing now, she wanted to win that election, and she still had to go through with her original plan.  
      So today was the final phase. When she set up her dance, and made sure people actually were planning on going.  
      Hence the stress hives.  
      “I was worried,” Tessa sighed.  
      Clary gave her a face that explained how she was feeling. And also probably insulted her friend, but that was beside the point.  
      “Alright,” Tessa said, putting a hand around Clary’s waist. She turned her around, and for the first time, Clary really saw her decorations in place.  
      It was absolutely gorgeous.  
      Twinkle lights dangled from the school’s gym, offering the only light in the room to give a romantic air. Doily bordered the entire gym, and a wall of candy grams covered the bleachers. The grams were shaped like locks as Tessa had had the idea of it being like the bridge in Paris. Flower petals coated all of the gym floors, and candy heart shaped signs were put on the doors. Even if nobody showed up, Clary would be happy.  
      She wasn’t even concerned about winning anymore because the result of all of the work that she had done was absolutely beautiful.

***

  
       Tessa and Will snuck out of the gym, giggling a bit.  
      “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Tessa smirked.  
      “I can’t understand why you thought of the boy’s locker room, that place is a dungeon, Tess.”  
      “I get to choose where I lose my virginity,” she defended. Will only rolled his eyes, trying to romantically escort her to the male’s locker room.  
      “I don’t understand why you don’t want to wait,” he said again, and she glared at him.  
      “I want to lose it to someone I care about. Plus, it’s really exciting.”  
      “You’re not losing anything,” he told her before pulling her to a shower stall.  
      Tessa knew that. That’s why she was really doing it. She had wanted to do this a while, and now that she had someone she cared about, she didn’t see why she shouldn’t do it. Will had purchased condoms, and she had been on the pill for years for period troubles, so she was completely safe. Also, she wanted this. She didn’t understand why it was made such a big deal in society, how girls were shamed for wanting to do it. To her, all that mattered was that it was safe, consensual, and not done for the wrong reasons like loneliness or trying to prove something.  
      Plus, she also really wanted to brag to Clary that she wasn’t so vanilla that she would do it somewhere stereotypical like a bedroom or something. No, she wanted it to be specifically here to signify the growth that she had had as a person.  
       She really was quite the memelord. She was also not entirely certain what a memelord was.  
      Will wrapped his arms around her, and she stretched on her toes to kiss him. They had gone pretty far already, and they had decided they would do this a little bit ago. He had been shocked when she had suggested it, but she had known Will for years. To her, that was all just getting ready for this moment, and she saw no reason why she should wait if they were both happy.  
      “Will,” she breathed, and he smiled against her lips.  
      “I _like like_ you, Tessa,” he whispered.  
      “I _like like_ you, Will,” she agreed with a giggle.  
      His hands pulled down the clothes she had been wearing to decorate in, and she undressed him slower to tease him. Which only led to him tickling her side, and her squealing a bit and then chastising him.  
      As he ran his hands up and down her shoulders, she asked him about the dance.  
      “So, who put my name in that? I was wondering about it for a while. I really can’t believe that someone would think to put my name in there.”  
      “Oh, that?” Will’s eyes twinkled impishly. “I may have changed all of the girl’s names to yours in the goblet.”  
      “Will!” Tessa chastised, and he pinched her.  
      She was going to complain, but then his hands started exploring some more and she couldn’t really manage the words.  
      He was very skilled at this, Tessa realized pretty soon. But he was also very gentle and tender with her.  
      The whole time his lips were moving on her shoulders, cheeks, forehead. He kept mumbling gentle words to her after each kiss he lay on her. His kisses went further and further down, and she encouraged him from where she was standing.  
       And when it was over, they just held each other.  
       Will was right. She had lost nothing. Even if they broke up tomorrow or if anything happened, she had had a great night.  
       And she would cherish it forever.  
       At least up until the moment when she saw James Carstairs walking in on them.

***  
       Clary and Jace finished the decorating around eight o’clock, and she sent the rest of student council home. Not able to find Tessa anywhere, she started searching around the building.  
       And ran into Jem.  
       “Jem?” Jace asked.  
       “Hey,” he said, looking the same as he had years ago except aged.  
       “What are you doing here?” Clary asked, realizing that this was kind of a red flag.  
       “Oh, I’m transferring over to Shadowhunter Academy. The Silent Brothers program is wonderful, but I just didn’t feel right over there. Anyways, I was planning on joining the student council, and since you guys were setting up tonight, I figured I could help out as sort of my audition for it.”  
       Jace nodded before explaining to him that there wasn’t really anything left to do except turning off the lights and cleaning up all around the gym, including locker rooms and the PE teacher’s office.  
       Clary handed him the keys and explained that his duties were to lock up and clean everything, and then she left him be. Maybe he could run into Tessa and tell her she said good night.  
       She and Jace left soon after their discussion with Jem to go on their date. When they reached the parking lot, they were welcomed with the sight of Sebastian.  
       Clary moved slightly behind Jace, and Jace stiffened.  
       “What are you doing here?” Jace asked Sebastian.  
       “I needed to talk to Clary.”  
       “So talk here,” Jace said.  
       “Alone,” Sebastian said.  
       “Oh, well, I’d rather cuddle with Pickles the cat,” Clary said. Sebastian didn’t look insulted, which clearly showed how clueless he was.  
        “Clary, listen, you know I wasn’t going to anything,” Sebastian said.  
        Clary just shook her head, “I could report you to the school. You could ruin your reputation. Or I could have Tessa write an article and tell everyone who you really are. Maybe then people could be warned.”  
       Sebastian almost struck out at her, but Jace moved further in front of her.  
      “Leave us alone, Sebastian,” Clary said.  
       And Sebastian left.  
       She knew that sometime to report it to the rest of the campus, but she wasn’t going to worry about it just yet. He wouldn’t be allowed to go to the dance, certainly, and it had already been decided in the administration that he would be expelled from school grounds effective tomorrow. It had taken all week, and a lot of support from Tessa, but he wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. And Clary also made sure that Tessa was going to write an article on self-defense and general cautions for dating. In fact, it was the first thing Tessa was going to write that she was actually proud about.  
       It was going to be okay. Clary hadn’t been hurt, and she was going to help from future people being hurt as well.  
       So as she and Jace drove to the diner, she felt elated. 


	13. Of Elections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

      Clary and Jace sat next to each other on the booth, discussing what their plans would be for when they were going to be president. Jace wanted to have less funding, and Clary wanted all of the funding.   
      But they also reached compromises, so that was nice.   
      Clary explained that she wanted student council to work with National Honor Society in helping the community as well. As they were a student organization, she wanted to run a self-defense workshop for all of the student body and work to educate about it. Once it became known what Sebastian did, surely other girls would start speaking up. There needed to be change in the school, and Clary wanted to be the one to do it. Jace agreed with that plan wholeheartedly, even giving some insight into how much it would likely cost.   
      No matter what happened, Jace cared about the school, Clary finally realized.   
      And that’s when she said it.  
      “The deal is off.”  
      “What?” Jace asked.  
      “The deal,” Clary repeated. “We’re not doing it anymore. If I have a lot of people coming to the dance, great. But it’s not going to affect you and Will’s position. You guys are going to continue to run regardless of how well I do.”  
      “Why?” Jace asked, seeming shocked. “I thought you wanted to win more than anything.”  
      “More than anything,” Clary said. “I want to make a change. I want to start a revolution in our school. Tessa told me that we were the Bernie Sanders. And I want to be that more than anything. I want to change how this school is run, and if it’s not through my leadership, then I believe it would work through yours. You’re a damn good candidate, Jace Herondale.”  
      Jace looked at her in confusion. “But don’t you want to be president?’  
     “Of course I do,” Clary said. “But I want to win because my student body wants it, and with all of the work that I have done on this dance, I really think that I have a chance. And if not, I know that you care about the organization. And since I’m your girlfriend, everybody knows who will be in the real control anyways.”  
     “Girlfriend?” Jace asked, eyebrows arched.  
     Clary blushed. They hadn’t really discussed what they were yet.   
     “I like it,” he finally said.   
     “I do too,” she agreed.  
     “But I also like the idea of us actually having a real election. I can assure you that I have catalogued every one of your arguments, and I already can find the fiscal flaws in your reasoning. You are going to be smoked at the debates.”  
      “Yeah, but how do you know I won’t seduce you again,” Clary grinned.   
      Jace smirked, “That sounds even better.”  
      Clary smiled at him before realizing. “You never told me what you were hiding from me.”  
       Jace’s eyes widened, and Clary gave him a confused face. “Spill, neighbor boy.”  
      Jace sighed, then said, “I love you.”

***

  
      Tessa pulled away from Will, her entire body flushing. Will covered her with his body, and they stared up at Jem like guilty children.   
      Which is kind of what they were.   
      “Jem,” Will said, clearing his throat awkwardly. Jem turned around so that they could get dressed quickly, and Tessa had never felt so ashamed.   
      The first time she had talked to Jem in years, and this was how it happened.  
      She really did not regret what she had done, but she wished that Jem had not been there to see it.  
      When she and Will were clothed, they followed Jem outside.   
      “I’m so happy for you!” Jem squealed. “I’ve shipped Wessa so long, oh my god. You have no idea. That’s why I left originally. I heard from the fangirls that Wessa was likely going to be the Valentine’s Day OTP, and I was like “no, that can’t be it”! But it was it! I’m so glad. And I started this ship! I’m the original Wessa shipper.”  
      Will glanced at Tessa, and she was…surprised, to say the least. It was well known that they were the couple of the century, but she wasn’t sure how she felt Jem being so supportive.   
       Jem saw their uncertain expressions and said, “Have I made it awkward?”  
      Will said “yes” at the same time Tessa said “no”, and they scowled at each other.   
      Jem glanced between the two of them uncertainly. “I just want you to know that I don’t mind that you two like each other. Tessa and I dated in middle school and while I frequently remember our time together, I’m glad my two best friends can be happy with each other. Plus, I totally called it, and my tumblr friends are going to freak.”  
      Will just shrugged like that was something he was used to with his girlfriends, and Tessa was staring at Jem open-mouthed.  
      “So, you’re going to transfer over here?” Will asked, and Jem nodded vigorously.  
      And the two of them hugged each other and it wasn’t awkward at all.   
      Okay, it was totally 100% awkward, but it was also really… nice to see Jem. And pretty soon they were all reminiscing and like the old times again.

***

  
       “You did what?” Tessa screamed into the phone, and Clary cringed. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t missed the torture on her ears that being friends with Tessa had brought, but she would be lying if she said that anybody could miss that.  
       “Will and Jace are good candidates,” Clary sighed into the phone.  
       “Yeah, but so are we. And we’re going to lose now!”  
       “Tessa, who cares if we lose?”   
       It was in that second that Clary realized that she really did not mind. It wasn’t about the election anymore. It was about how much she had grown in the experience.   
       “But seriously, you should consult me on these things at least!”  
       Okay, so maybe Clary could agree on that. They sort have gotten into this mess when Clary had made a deal with Jace last month.   
        But it also gave them a lot of great things and Tessa could suck it if she thought otherwise.   
       She couldn’t really announce that because her friend was taller and much more threatening than her, but that was somebody else’s problem.  
       “Alright, fine,” Clary consented.  
       “Also, we have to have a girl’s night after the dance tomorrow.”  
       “Oh, really?” Clary asked. “Did Will try sexting you? I swear, guys just use whatever opportunity they can to show their penis.”  
       “No, it wasn’t that,” Tessa said. “But we definitely need to talk about our boyfriends after the dance tomorrow.”  
       “Alright, fine,” Clary shrugged. She probably needed to talk about the Jace fiasco anyways.


	14. And Valentine's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.

      Clary should probably explain what had happened yesterday.   
      When Jace had said he loved her, she had immediately spit out her drink and started choking. He then performed the Heimlich maneuver on her, which onlookers said was “quite adorable.” After resuscitating her, which led to her vomiting up her food on him, she had said “oh, thanks.”  
      This was, surprisingly enough, only the third worst reaction she’s had to “I love you.”  
      But afterwards, he drove her home and kissed her cheek.   
      And then he explained that he had been in this relationship much longer than she had, and he had loved her for a while. He explained that’s why he’d been protective of her for so long, and that he was glad he had looked out for her when she had needed it the most. He explained that she didn’t have to say it until she was ready because he would want her to mean it, but he also explained that he wanted her to know.  
      And in that second, she had realized she had loved him too.   
      But she was going to make him wait to hear it because she wanted his reaction to be ten times better than hers for blackmail purposes.  
      The dance was scheduled to happen tonight, and Will and Tessa got ready together. They discussed the weird encounter with Jem and how they were going to work Jem into their lives, but figured it was something that was sort of bound to happen. Jem would always be a part of them.  
      So they got ready.   
      And they made out.  
      While getting ready.  
      Okay, so they talked about Jem for five minutes and then made out for the rest of the time.   
      Okay, fine.   
      They made out all day and Tessa guiltily remembered Jem a little later.   
      Happy?  
      Anyways, at some point, Tessa convinced Will to download Neko Atsume, and they also watched High School Musical together.   
      He loved the ending and he loved Pickles the cat.   
      Tessa was really glad she had Clary in things that mattered to her because Will had some seriously depraved morals.   
      Luckily, though, she did have Clary for important things like cat apps and Disney musicals. And Will for making out.  
      He’s really good at that.  
      In fact, she and Will started making out again when she explained why Pickles the cat was awful because he wasn’t changing his opinions, and she needed to make out with someone.

***

  
      It was February 13, and the dance was officially starting.   
      Tessa and Will ended up not being the Valentine’s Day OTP, but Aline and Helen were. The girls were the first same sex couple in their school’s history to be the Valentine’s Day OTP, so Tessa had been extremely happy. In fact, pretty soon after, Alec had pulled Magnus into his arms, and they had definitely made some girls start tweeting about Malec. This dance really was the beginning of change for them, and for their school.   
      And Clary was having the time of her life. She and Jace spun around the dance floor, where a bunch of teenagers stared in envy at his choice. He had announced straight up that he would choose Clary, and she honestly had been a little worried considering how she had sort of thrown up on him the night before.   
      Apparently, that wasn’t the worst reaction he’d gotten either though.  
      So she felt like that was a plus.   
      And honestly, she had never felt as free as she had as she was with Jace.   
      Which was why she struggled not to say it every time he looked over at her. It was so weird. In just the course of a month, she had realized her feelings for him, and now that she knew them she didn’t understand why she hadn’t noticed before.   
      She’s convinced she’s liked him for a really long time, just that it was lying dormant for when she needed it.   
      Naturally, this was something that was a lot more awesome to consider when she could make him lean down and make out with him in front of a bunch of jealous bitches. So that definitely helped.   
      Only about 89% of the kids ended up showing, but it didn’t matter. The plan was over. The elections were only just beginning.   
But Clary couldn’t bring herself to care about that either as Jace told her he loved her again in her ear.

***

  
      Tessa and Clary sat down beside each other, a bottle of Dr. Pepper, a box of pizza, and two tubs of Ben and Jerry’s between them.   
      Tessa had brought over her good facial mixture from Lush, and they were doing that as they had their girls’ night.  
      Which was wonderful because it actually was Galentine’s Day and they had wanted to have one for a while anyways.   
      So they were really lucky.   
      As Tessa discussed her hatred of Pickles the cat and how Will actually liked the demon, Clary made all the appropriate noises of disgust. And as Clary explained the debacle with Jace, Tessa actually snorted out soda from her nose.   
      They were friends again, but this time it was for a good reason.   
      That’s what really mattered.   
      “I just can’t believe he likes Pickles,” Clary said, wrinkling his nose.   
      “I know, right?” Tessa agreed. “Oh, also, something kinda big happened.”  
      “You’re pregnant,” Clary guessed.  
      “What? No!”  
      Clary shrugged. “Alright, go on then.”  
      “Will and I had sex,” Tessa said, smiling up at Clary proudly.  
      “Really? Where?”  
      “In the boy’s locker room,” Tessa smirked.  
      Clary’s eyes widened, and she squealed before hitting her friend.   
      “That place is practically a dungeon!” Clary gasped. “You went hard.”  
      “I know,” Tessa agreed vigorously. “I finally have a hoe story though.”  
      “I’m proud,” Clary giggled.   
      Tessa explained about how Jem had walked in on them, and Clary listened with barely suppressed amusement as Tessa explained how he had proclaimed that they were his OTP.  
      And the girls stayed up all night, eating all of their food.   
      And everything was normal between them again, they were just two crazy best friends being themselves and enjoying each other’s companies.   
      A month had changed everything. Except, in reality, there were no changes. Clary had just started to realize what was important to her, and why it was important to her. They were growing older, and everything was changing. But, in the end, it didn’t matter.   
      Because they had each other. 


	15. The Last Dance

_May, 2017._   
  
      Clary and Tessa did not end up winning the election.   
      In fact, they lost by a landslide.   
      Apparently, word got out that they were Tubbs supporters, and their campaign was over before it began. No amount of memes could save them.   
      So the boys won.   
      But that didn’t mean that Clary wasn’t proud of them. In fact, she was really proud of herself too. Over the course of the year, Tessa had become president of National Honor Society, and Clary had become the cheer captain. She and Tessa had also started an awareness group for human trafficking and date rape matters, and had gotten student council and National Honor Society to fund it. They had gone all throughout the school, and after Tessa’s story was published, girls started to speak up. Sebastian was forced to leave the school, and girls all throughout the state starting speaking up. Soon, they were helping victims all over, and they were together throughout it all.   
      And, Clary had been right. She really was in control of Student Council if she did say so herself. As Jace’s girlfriend, she was able to get him to not be as much of a tight ass about dances, and he was able to get her to be a little more frugal about their spending money. It was a give and take relationship.  
      At the moment, they were at their very last dance as high schoolers, senior prom. Something that Clary had convinced him to spend plenty of money on as she explained that it would be part of their memories forever. She also told him that she would let him feel her up in her cheerleading uniform if he did, which was something that had been one of Jace’s fantasies for quite a while.   
      Naturally, she convinced him pretty well.   
      “Clary,” Jace said. And she glanced up at him.   
      He pressed his lips to hers.   
      “I love you,” he whispered in her ear as he had done many times before.   
      Something that she had never done, though, was say it back.   
      He made her repeat it a few times, saying he didn’t hear her. Until eventually she yelled, “I LOVE YOU, NEIGHBOR BOY.”

***

  
       Tessa and Will happened to be arguing when they ran into Clary and Jace.  The couple glanced at them, and they pretended to not be fighting. They were all currently in a bet on who would fight first, and Jace and Clary had held strong for a while.  
      It’s just that Tessa could not understand on a fundamental level why he would think Troy and Gabriela were meant to be together.   
      And sure, moral dilemmas such as these were not something that one really argued about with one’s boyfriend, but Tessa could not believe it.   
      When Clary and Jace left though, they resumed their argument.   
      “What are you going to do? Show up on my lawn and yell your feelings?”  
      “Oh, like that’s an option!”  
      “It is if you’re crazy enough!”  
      “The only one who is crazy is you. Troy needs to get his head in the game. He needs to realize that Gabriela is a goody two shoed floozy, and that his heart should not be in the song.”  
      “But that’s what’s important to him!”  
      “How dare you say that basketball isn’t important to Troy?”  
      Jem walked up to the pair of them, glancing between the two.   
      “You guys okay?”  
      “Will is insipid, and his morals are depraved,” Tessa said curtly.  
      “Tessa likes Tubbs the cat,” Will countered.   
      “Because he’s a fluffy little Angel that doesn’t deserve your hatred!”  
      Jem sighed at the sight of his two best friends, and Tessa only glared at him in response. Jem had been accepted into Julliard on a music scholarship, and this time, Tessa had only felt pride for her friend. And he had only felt pride any time Will and Tessa reached new milestones in their relationship.   
      They continued to discuss the merits of Neko Atsume, and Tessa very violently argued why Tubbs should be treated better.   
      And Tessa was glad that she had a group of friends she could argue about the things that mattered with.

***

  
      Clary and Jace sat in his car, Alright by Supergrass playing loudly as they drove through the night.   
     “So,” Jace called to her. “You love me?”  
      “You’re pushing your luck, Neighbor Boy,” Clary growled.   
      “I happen to think you don’t need luck when you’re as perfect as I am, B Cups.”  
      “You didn’t seem to mind my B cups last night,” Clary told him, and he smirked.  
      “They happen to be one of my favorite things, actually,” he told her.   
      “Oh, too bad you only get to see them in your wet dreams then,” Clary giggled.   
      “Yeah, well you know. At least my wet dreams aren’t at other people’s birthday parties.”  
      “Everybody wets the bed sometimes,” Clary said, glaring at him.  
      “Oh, I know. It’s endearing really. It has me pissing with laughter.”  
      “Shut up.”  
      “I have no off switch, B Cups.”  
      “I happen to know a few parts of you that function roughly the same.”  
      “Oh, yeah? Prove it?”  
       And she did. Or she would have if Tessa hadn’t called her.   
      “Did you tell her about the cheerleader uniform thing?” Clary sighed.   
      Jace grimaced, “Guilty.”  
      Clary made a face at him. Tessa still had not learned the value of being quiet on the phone, and Clary’s muscles were already tensed in fear.

***

 

     Everything was finally coming to a close. What had mattered a year ago was over, and they continued to grow and change each day. It didn’t matter what the future held for them because in that moment, every little thing was alright for them. Every little thing was just perfect, and for that time, they could rest. They would graduate soon, and they would move away. But it didn’t matter because for that time period, absolutely everything was perfect.  
      “You did _what_?” Tessa shrieked into the phone, and Clary flinched.   
      Okay, so almost everything was perfect.   
      But that was beside the point.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of this fic! It's been a wild ride, and I really think that I want to start writing more multi-chaps. Thanks for all those who left kudos or comments or encouraged me in any way. Also, all characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.


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